BEIJING — A group of 29 Chinese dissidents is urging Beijing to hold direct talks with the Dalai Lama and allow an independent investigation of the wave of protests that has rocked China's Tibetan regions.
China is damaging its own international credibility by prohibiting journalists from entering its Tibetan regions, the dissidents added.
“At present the one-sided propaganda of the official Chinese media is having the effect of stirring up inter-ethnic animosity and aggravating an already tense situation,” the letter said.
The dissidents, who also included Ding Zilin, leader of a group of mothers whose children were killed when the Chinese military crushed student protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989
China's official news agency said that the death toll from the Lhasa rioting had increased to 22
Tibet's government-in-exile, based in India, says 99 Tibetans have been killed during the protests.
Anti-government protests continued on the weekend in four Tibetan regions
clipped from: www.theglobeandmail.com 