Beijing, China - China's security chief called for stepping up "patriotic education" in Tibet's monasteries, the state-run Tibet Daily said Tuesday, as prosecutors for the first time charged demonstrators in the largely peaceful, monk-led protests that later exploded into riots in the region.
Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu led the first high-level central government visit to Tibet since the riots broke out this month. In the face of international criticism of China's crackdown, he stressed that the government would "fight an active publicity battle" and solicit the help of Communist Party cadres.
His call for broader "patriotic education" indicated the party would also move to exert greater control over religion in Tibet, requiring more Tibetans to accept the region as an inalienable part of China, denounce the Dalai Lama as a separatist and recognize the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama. Such campaigns were first launched in 1996.
Angered by foreign sympathy for the protesters and support for the Dalai Lama, China is bearing down hard on the exiled Tibetan religious leader, blaming him and his followers for stirring up trouble in an effort to sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August.
The Chinese crackdown has drawn international concern, with some government leaders suggesting a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Games. On Tuesday, when asked about the possibility, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "All options are open, and I appeal to the Chinese leaders' sense of responsibility." He added that he had sent a message to Chinese President Hu Jintao noting his concern over the violence.
The European Parliament, whose president has said a boycott should be considered, has scheduled a special debate on the Tibet situation Wednesday in Brussels.
Despite a heavy police and military presence across China, protests continue to spread through regions that border Tibet. On Tuesday in Sichuan province, where clashes between security forces and protesters killed at least one policeman a day earlier, an estimated 400 to 500 Tibetan monks and others gathered in the main street of Luhuo, a restaurant owner said in a telephone interview.
According to the owner, who gave his surname as Yan, police quickly disrupted the gathering, but the atmosphere was still "very tense."
"Most shops are closed, including my restaurant," he said. "I have been here for 17 years, and I have never seen anything like this."
The New China News Service identified the policeman killed Monday in Sichuan's Garze prefecture as Wang Guochuan. Wang was killed by a mob wielding stones and knives, according to the report.
"The police were forced to fire warning shots, and dispersed the lawless mobsters," the agency said.
The government says at least 22 people have died in Tibet since the violence broke out; Tibetan rights groups say nearly 140 Tibetans have been killed in Tibet and surrounding provinces.
In Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, state prosecutors on Tuesday charged 13 people with "illegal assembly." They were among the 15 people originally detained for protesting in front of the Tsuklakhang Temple on March 10, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese Communist rule.
The protesters shouted anti-government slogans and held up illegal, homemade Tibetan flags, symbols of independence. They made their way to the Jokhang Temple, using their slogans and flags "to gather a crowd and stir up trouble," the Tibet Daily said.
Fear over the crisis in Tibet has extended even to Beijing. More than a week after students at the Central University of Nationalities held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the dead in Lhasa, a heavy contingent of security guards patrolled the campus, which remains closed to outsiders.
Tibetan students said they had all been forced to attend a meeting the day after the vigil. They were told not to speak to outsiders and banned from assemblies of any kind.
"I'm so afraid that they will stop me from getting a job or prevent me from graduating," a Tibetan computer science student said.
At the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one expert would speak only on condition of anonymity.
"If you want to listen to the government's voice, I can recommend a lot of people," the academic said. "But if you want to listen to the truth, it is really too sensitive for many academics to speak right now."