Did Chinese in monk robes spark riots?

Chinese soldiers dressed as monks committed the violence that is the basis of anti-Tibetan propaganda the Chinese government and media is spreading around the world, said Tsering Choedup, south Asia coordinator of the International Tibet Support Network. Choedup told AsiaNews, "eyewitnesses living in Lhasa have confirmed this for us. Through cell phones given to them by relatives here in India, they have confirmed for us that they have seen Chinese soldiers and security agents changing into monks' robes, and inciting the crowd."

This confirms what the Dalai Lama said earlier: "In a photograph, we see a lama holding a sword, but it is not a traditional Tibetan sword. We know that a few hundred soldiers have dressed as monks."

Choedup, respoding to Beijing's latest accusations, said "It is absurd to say that there are 'Tibetan suicide squads' prepared to carry out attacks against the Olympics. It is another attempt by China to pass us off as extremists and terrorists" and to justify violent repression, he said.

"The Tibetan emphasis on non-violence is well known. Tibetan exiles are 100 percent followers of nonviolence. Chinese propaganda has been following this strategy since the first peaceful march, on March 10 . . . Since then, they have been accusing us of acts of violence that have nothing to do with [our] peaceful protests."