Suspects in Tibet Fire Are Held
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
BEIJING — Suspects accused of setting fire to shops in Tibet, causing the deaths of 12 people during anti-government violence, have been taken into custody, state press and broadcast outlets said yesterday.
The suspects were responsible for deadly arson attacks on three shops in Lhasa — including a clothing outlet where five young women were burned to death — and one in nearby Dagze county, the Tibet Daily newspaper said.
The government has highlighted the burning deaths as a way to show that Tibetans were responsible for the violence that mainly targeted Han Chinese.
China says 18 civilians, most of them Han Chinese, died in the riots, but Tibet’s government-in-exile has said 140 Tibetans were killed during the protests.
A total of 414 suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the March 14 riots, and another 298 people have turned themselves in, the report said, citing Jiang Zaiping, the vice chief of the Public Security Bureau in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
