105 protesters surrender in Lhasa as deadline ends

A total of 105 rioters have surrendered for their role in the riots in Lhasa on March 14 that saw at least 13 people dead and many injured.

The Tibetan regional government had set Monday midnight as the deadline for the rioters to turn in, promising leniency to those who fell in line and "harsh" action to those who did not.

Baema Chilain, vice-chairman of the regional government, said those who surrendered were directly involved in beating, smashing, looting and arson.

"Some have turned in the money they looted," Baema was quoted as saying by official Xinhua news agency.

The rampaging mobs had attacked banks, government buildings, schools and shops and set fires at more than 300 places after the protests erupted into large scale violence.

Thirteen persons were either hacked to death or burnt, regional government said.

Doje Cering, a 25-year old villager, who smashed a car and a van with stones, said he was drunk when he heard someone shouting, "get out, or we will burn down your house". Then, he just blindly followed them, the report said.

"I was very disturbed by what I did. My family has persuaded me to give in to police," he said.

"We have sufficient evidence proving that the Lhasa riot was instigated, planned and organised by the Dalai clique," a veteran Tibetan official Ragdi said.

Senior Tibetan leader Ragdi, said that the riots in Lhasa posed a severe threat to the people's life and social stability.

He said that a handful of lawless people, chanting separatists words in downtown Lhasa, burnt more than 200 civilian houses and shops, destroyed over 50 vehicles, killed 13 innocent people, and seriously injured a dozen of law-enforcers.

"The rioters' cruelty has aroused huge indignation among the people," the Tibet-born politician said.

"The violent crime instigated by the Dalai clique is nothing but a symbol that shows fierce head-on combat between us and the Dalai clique, which has an important political connotation," he said.

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had said on Tuesday that the "doors of the dialogue are open" for the Dalai Lama if he gave up his position on Tibet independence and recognized Tibet and Taiwan, which split from China during the civil war in 1949, as inalienable parts of China.

Refuting Beijing's accusations that he was behind the riots in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama threatened to quit as leader of the government in exile based in Dharamsala, if the unrest went out of control.

"If Tibetans chose violence in their agitation, I shall resign from the leadership."

The 73-year Nobel Prize winner who fled to India after a failed uprising against the Chinese rule in 1959 said, Chinese officials could investigate the facts.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch said in a statement it had unconfirmed reports of hundreds of arrests and warned those in custody were in great risk of being tortured.