China said today it had shown great restraint in the face of violent protests by Tibetans, which it said were orchestrated by followers of the Dalai Lama seeking to wreck the Beijing Olympics in August.
But even as the governor of Tibet said no guns were used against protesters in the regional capital, Lhasa, troops poured into neighbouring areas to enforce control after violent ethnic Tibetan protests.
And Lhasa counted down to a midnight deadline for protesters to give themselves up or face tougher punishment.
The developments underscore how, even as China asserts iron control, the violence will hang over the country, with foreign protests, pleas for leniency and China's crackdown weighing uncomfortably on the build-up to the Games.
Tibet governor Qiangba Puncog said the protests were ignited by supporters of the Dalai Lama just for that end.
"This time a tiny handful of separatists and lawless elements engaged in extreme acts with the goal of generating even more publicity to wreck stability during this crucial period of the Olympic Games - over 18 years of hard-won stability," he said.
An ethnic Tibetan in Sichuan's Aba prefecture said fresh protests flared near two Tibetan schools on Monday, with hundreds of students facing off against police and troops.
The resident, who asked not be identified, said 18 people, including Buddhist monks and students, were killed when troops opened fire with guns on Sunday. Earlier a policeman was burnt to death, he said. His account could not be immediately verified.
Exiled representatives of Tibet in Dharamsala, India, yesterday put the protest death toll at 80.
But Qiangba Puncog said only 13 "innocent civilians" had been killed and dozens of security personnel injured in Lhasa when several days of monk-led protests broadened into riots in which houses and shops were burned and looted on Friday.
"I can say with all responsibility we did not use lethal weapons, including opening fire," he said in Beijing, adding that only tear gas and water cannon had been used to quell the region's worst protests in nearly two decades.