Fears and tears in holy plateau city wracked by turmoil
Updated: 2008-03-15 22:00
LHASA -- Dense smoke blanketed the cloud dotted blue sky, burning wreckages emitted an irritating smell and hundreds wailed over the bloodshed. A Tibetan teacher said she couldn't believe her eyes.
"I've never seen such cruelty before. How can anyone do something like this?" asked Zhayung, a Tibetan teacher at the No. 1 primary school in Lhasa, her voice still shaky and her complexion tinged with fear and sheer shock.
The school she worked at was among a wide range of targets of the planned sabotage that broke out in the Tibetan capital on Friday afternoon.
Vandals carrying backpacks filled with stones and bottles of inflammable liquids smashed windows, set fire to vehicles, shops and restaurants along their path.
Some rioters held iron rods, wooden sticks and long knifes, randomly assaulting passersby, sparing neither women or children along their trail of destruction.
"Classes were cancelled," Zhayung said. "I managed to escape from the school and hide in the building across the street, but some of my colleagues were stranded in the school for the whole night until police came to their rescue."
For many Lhasa residents such as Zhayung, March 14 stopped being just another Friday -- it was a day when the capital was left in chaos after an outburst of beating, smashing, looting and burning, which officials say, on ample evidence, was "masterminded by the Dalai clique".
The Tibet regional government said on Saturday at least 10 people were confirmed dead, including several from burns and gunshot wounds. Police managed to rescue more than 580 people, including three Japanese tourists, from the violent array of sabotage.
As tensions began to ease on Saturday, residents in the traditionally tranquil plateau city recalled the nightmares they went through.
'THE MOBS WERE CRAZY'
Tubdain, a local resident, said he saw a girl in red-clothing who appeared to be a Han Chinese chased and clubbed by six people on the Duosenge Road in the downtown area. "The mobs stoned her head and batted her knees with wooden clubs," said the 50-something Tubdain.
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