Tourists recently returned from Lhasa said the Tibetan capital was tense but quiet as the anniversaries of the 1959 uprising and the 1989 anti-China demonstrations approached.

"You notice the tight security as soon as you get there. Barkhor Square (in front of the Potala Palace in central Lhasa) was full of armed and plainclothes police and there were people watching the square from the rooftops," a tourist who left the region on March 7 told AFP.

Another Western tourist, who left on March 9, said squads of soldiers in riot gear were patrolling the streets after dark, and public security officers were checking the identities of foreign guests in all hotels, according to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign.

The tourist said security officers with binoculars were on rooftops overlooking Barkhor Square -- where both the 1959 and 1989 violence started.

The foreign affairs office in Lhasa denied tightened security was in force, but said tourists were quite frequently warned not to go out alone.

"In order to protect the safety of foreign guests, sometimes we have to give guidance and tell people not to go out alone and to stay with their tour group," an official who refused to be identified said.

China still enforces controls on entry into Tibet and foreign journalists are not permitted to enter the region without official approval -- which is rarely given.

Although China took control of the remote region in 1951, opponents of Beijing's rule and independent observers say torture, imprisonment and other abuses are still used to prevent pro-independence sentiment from surfacing.

The double anniversary marks the Lhasa Uprising, which broke out on March 10, 1959, against Chinese rule, and a rash of open protests which led to the March 8, 1989 declaration of martial law in Lhasa -- the first such imposition in the history of the People's Republic.

Few details of the 1959 uprising are available, but at least 70 Tibetans were killed as armed police moved in to quash the 1989 demonstrations. Checkpoints were erected around the city, homes were summarily searched and all foreigners were expelled.

China's official media has made no reference to the 1989 demonstrations, but has published a series of articles on the 1959 "democratic reform", which came after the rebellion was surpressed and the Dalai Lama, Tibet's temporal and spiritual leader, fled to India.

"Forty years ago on March 10, the upper class reactionary clique launched an armed rebellion backed by imperialists and anti-China forces in the international community," the overseas edition of the People's Daily said in an editorial published Wednesday.

"But in July that year, a massive movement of democratic reforms swept over the plateau area ... The democratic reforms were a glorious chapter in the history of global human rights in the 20th century," he added.

China's top leadership in Lhasa on Tuesday accused the exiled Dalai Lama of wrecking the lives of Tibetans, who wanted to improve their lot and remain part of China.

"The Dalai Lama is not only a religious figure, he is also a political exile engaged in long-term separatist activities and the figurehead of feudalism and serfdom in old Tibet," said Raidi, the top ethnic Tibetan in China's government in Tibet.

"If the Dalai Lama had not hindered our efforts, we would have achieved progress in politics, economy, culture, science and education even faster," the vice-party secretary of Tibet added.

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Last updated: 10-Mar-99