The situation in Tibet capital Lhasa is calm on Saturday, after Friday's riot which saw ten people killed, shops robbed and vehicles burnt. [
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(Photo: CCTV)
There was not much traffic on the road early on Saturday. Burnt cars, motorcycles and bicycles remained scattered on the main streets, and the air tinged with smokes, according to local witnesses.
Traffic control was imposed on major streets to maintain order.
Most shops in the city were closed on Saturday. In downtown areas, about a hundred shops were ransacked and vandalized. Smoke was seen belching from the shops destroyed in the riot.
Power supply resumed in quarters along Duosenge Road, the worst hit area by the violence in downtown Lhasa. Local phone call service, however, could not be resumed for the moment as infrastructure of communications was destroyed in Friday's violence.
(Photo: CCTV)
According to the witnesses, the unrest started around 1:10 p.m. on Friday, several people clashed with and stoned the local police around the Ramogia Monastery in downtown Lhasa.
Rioters began gathering around 2 p.m. near the Ramogia Monastery, and set fire to shops along two main streets in the capital, and around Jokhang Temple, Ramogia Monastery and Chomsigkang Market. At least five blazing spots were reported and dense smoke was seen blanketing the area.
A number of shops, banks and hotels were burnt, causing blackouts and interruption of communications in some areas. Shops close to the Jokhang Temple and Ramogia Monastery were shut down.
(Photo: CCTV)
A Tibetan government official told Xinhua that there had been enough evidence to prove that the sabotage in Lhasa was "organized, premeditated and masterminded" by the Dalai clique.