CNNMarch 20, 2008
DHARAMSALA, India (CNN) -- Tibet's spiritual leader Thursday said he was powerless to stop anti-Chinese violence as authorities in Beijing acknowledged for the first time that unrest had spread into neighboring Chinese provinces.
The Dalai Lama, who has threatened to quit as head of Tibet's government-in-exile following deadly attacks in the Himalayan region, also warned of the consequences of any attempts to push for independence from China.
"I have no authority. I have no power to tell the movement to shut up," the Dalai Lama said during an hour-and-40 minute briefing at his headquarters in the Indian town of Dharamsala.
Tibetan exile groups say at least 80 people died in violence last week in Tibet's capital Lhasa. Chinese authorities insist security forces acted with restraint and killed no one. They say 13 "innocent people" were killed, some brutally burned, by Tibetan rioters.
The Dalai Lama met Wednesday with leaders of several Tibetan activist groups. Younger activists demand Tibetan independence and hope to derail the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The Dalai Lama, who calls for "meaningful autonomy" and supports the Olympics, said Thursday that he will suffer the consequences of the protesters' actions.
He also said he is ready to meet with Chinese leaders, regarding Tibet, if there is something concrete to be accomplished.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised him he would be ready to talk with the Dalai Lama if the religious leader renounces violence and demands for Tibetan independence. Click here for gallery of global protests. »
It was not immediately clear if this meant the Chinese leader was ready to start that dialogue anytime soon. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly said he is not calling for Tibet's independence from China, but wanted "genuine autonomy."
China on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that anti-government riots that rocked Tibet last week have spread to other provinces, the nation's state-run news agency reported.
The official Xinhua News Agency said there were "riots in Tibetan-inhabited areas in the provinces of Sichuan and Gansu. Both provinces neighbor Tibet. The Xinhua news agency report blamed the incidents on supporters of the Dalai Lama. Watch journalist describe the violence »
Thursday's acknowledgement from China came as at least 80 people were arrested in Nepal in anti-China protests near the United Nations building in Kathmandu.
In a statement Thursday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the government of Nepal should "cease arbitrary arrests and detentions, harassment, and the use of excessive force to silence Tibetan protesters, activists and journalists."
On Wednesday, new video suggested that security forces in Tibet had yet to gain control of Tibet and neighboring provinces which have suffered eruptions of anti-Chinese violence since last week.
Film of a crowd -- some on horseback -- attempting to storm a government building has been shot by a Canadian television crew that managed to gain access to a Chinese town in Gansu province despite attempts by Chinese authorities to keep foreign media away from the region.
The head of the Beijing Olympics said efforts by Tibetan activists to promote an international boycott of the Summer Games are "doomed to failure." He also rejected demands by Tibetan activists that the Olympic torch relay be routed away from Tibet.
Members of the Canadian TV crew reached the town in Gansu province, near the Tibet border, where they videotaped hundreds of angry protesters attempting to storm a government building. Watch Tibetan protesters charge on horseback »
Led by several dozen villagers on horseback, about 1,000 people rushed toward the facility only to be turned back by 100 Chinese soldiers who were inside, according to Canadian TV correspondent Steve Chao. The video showed women and children among the charging throng.
After they were repelled, the villagers ran to a nearby school where they tore up a Chinese flag and replaced it with the Tibetan flag. That section of Gansu province is part of historical Tibet, but it is not inside what is now known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Tibetan monks at a monastery in Sichuan province -- another neighboring Tibet -- sent word to exiled monks at a branch of their monastery in Dharamsala, India, that two monks were arrested after they e-mailed photographs of monks killed in protests to the news media. Internet and phone service has since been interrupted to the Amdo Ngaba Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County, the exiles told CNN.