UP to a dozen people were arrested in Lhasa last Friday after violence flared between Tibetans and Chinese Muslim entrepreneurs, according to unofficial sources in Tibet. Police intervened after a group of Tibetans in Lhasa smashed up a restaurant run by Chinese Muslims in the Barkor, the Tibetan quarter of the city. The Tibetans apparently claimed that they had been served human flesh, a contention that recurs regularly in different areas of Tibet. Windows were smashed and furniture was broken at the restaurant. In retaliation, Chinese Muslim restaurateurs threw bricks at the windows of nearby Tibetan restaurants, but there appeared to have been no widespread damage. Police and paramilitary troops arrived on the scene in large numbers, and foreigners in the area were told to return to their hotels, where they were locked in for the night. Three tourists, who asked not to be named, said that they saw a group of Tibetans, including two monks, being beaten with clubs by police on Dekyi Lam, the main street in the old quarter of Lhasa. 'It seems to have been a small incident which was put down with excessive use of force,' said one of the travellers, who added he had seen armed police with tear-gas canisters on the roofs of nearby buildings. The next morning conditions in the area had returned to normal, apart from a strong police presence in the Barkor. The Lhasa violence follows a more serious incident in Shigatse, Tibet's second city, in mid-January, during which a Tibetan monk was killed, according to an unconfirmed report. The monk, who was from Tashilhunpo monastery, was hacked to death with a meat cleaver following an argument with a Muslim shopkeeper. The quarrel began when the monk complained that a Tibetan from the countryside was being overcharged by the shopkeeper, according to a source. After the murder Tibetans ransacked the shop, and a number of Tashilhunpo monks were said to have forced Chinese Muslims shops in the area to close. Police did not intervene during the looting, according to one source, who suggested that the situation was so tense that the police may have thought that interference would provoke more violence. The shop owner was arrested in connection with the murder.
