By Wu Jiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-10 07:31

Xiahe, Gansu province: A tour by foreign and local journalists to an area of Gansu province where rioting broke out last month, was interrupted Wednesday by a group of lamas protesting at the Labrang Lamasery.

About 15 young lamas, carrying banners written in Tibetan, rushed out of a building at the monastery in Xiahe at about 12:30 pm and gathered in front of the group of more than 20 Chinese and foreign media workers.

They called for "human rights", but didn't tell what kinds of human rights they wanted when asked by reporters.

The clerics dispersed after about 10 minutes after being spoken to by senior monks.

Gun'gyihu Jinba, deputy director of the monastery's administrative office, said there are more than 1,000 Buddhist disciples in the temple, but very few were involved in the protest.

During the visit, reporters had witnessed hundreds of lamas reading sacred texts in silence in the scripture hall of the monastery.

Living Buddha Dainkaicang, director of the Buddhism Chapter in the city of Xiahe, told reporters the young protesters were ignorant of both religion and history, and had been led astray by separatists.

"They were hoodwinked and might not have been self-motivated to protest. The action was instigated by separatists," he said, without elaborating.

Several monks from the Labrang Lamasery took part in last month's riots, the 6th Jamyang Losang Jigme Tubdain Qoigyi Nyima from the monastery told reporters.

Their actions created a negative image of the religion in people's minds, he said.

"I felt pain when I saw the monks involved in violence. We used to enjoy respect from the public and other religions, but now our image has been severely damaged, as people are associating lamas with the riots," he said.

"The elder lamas are actually very concerned about the future of Labrang temple, and we have been praying for the blessing of the Buddhists," he added.

The touring journalists, including 11 from foreign media organizations such as the American Broadcasting Co, Reuters, and TV Asashi Corp of Japan, are on a four-day trip to the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. They are scheduled to visit Xiahe, Hezuo, Maqu and Luqu, the areas worst affected by the riots.

Riots broke out last month in six of the eight counties of the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture. Ninety-four people, all but three of them police officers, were injured in the unrest, which caused 230 million yuan ($32.8 million) worth of damage to property, Mao Shengwu, acting head of the prefecture, said.

As of Tuesday, police had detained 432 people, 170 of them monks.

But there were no monks among the eight arrested, he said. Of the 2,204 people who turned themselves in, 519 were monks, Mao said.