Foreign Journalists Enter Tibet

China has allowed a group of foreign journalists an escorted visit to Tibet. News reports from non-state sources are coming out of Lhasa for the first time since protests and riots began two weeks ago. One described part of the city as a “war zone.”

The Chinese government and exiled Tibetan leaders have widely divergent estimates of the number of civilians killed, and coverage of the demonstrations has differed in foreign and Chinese media.

A small band of monks briefly disrupted the journalists’ visit to a temple, but Tibetans were largely resistant to discussing the situation with reporters, according to the Financial Times.

Read a summary of news reports on the BBC.

Or, read a direct account by the Financial Times or the Associated Press.

AP photo / Andy Wong

A young Buddhist monk looks at a photographer while others surround foreign journalists visiting the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. The government-managed visit by foreign reporters to Tibet’s capital backfired Thursday when monks disrupted the tour, screaming that there is no religious freedom and that the Dalai Lama was not to blame for Lhasa’s recent violence.