BEIJING—China set a "surrender deadline", and showed the first extensive television footage of protests in Lhasa on Saturday, signalling a crackdown after the worst unrest in Tibet for two decades.
But a source close to the Tibetan self-proclaimed government-in-exile suggested China's official death toll of 10, which comes just months before the Beijing Olympics, may not tell the full story.
The Communist Party mouthpiece, Xinhua news agency said that 10 "innocent civilians" died in fires that accompanied bitter clashes in the remote, mountain capital on Friday. It said no foreigners died but gave few other details, and the report could not be verified.
The source close to the Tibetan exile administration in India said at least five Tibetan protesters were shot dead by troops, and other groups supporting Tibetan independence have claimed many more may have died.
The regime has accused followers of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of masterminding the rioting, which has scarred its image of national harmony in the build-up to the Beijing Olympics and already sparked talk of a boycott.
The Olympic torch is to arrive in Lhasa in a matter of weeks.
Tibetan crowds in the remote mountain city attacked government offices, burnt vehicles and shops and threw stones at police on Friday in bloody confrontations that left many injured.
A Reuters picture showed a protester setting fire to bicycles and a Chinese national flag. Another depicted security personnel shielding themselves against rocks hurled by protesters.
Television footage showed plumes of smoke rising over Lhasa and individual buildings ablaze.
Claims That Scores of Tibetans Killed and Others Tortured
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, told reporters in Beijing that Tibetan authorities had not fired any shots to quell the violence in Lhasa, which state media said had "reverted to calm".
But the International Campaign for Tibet, a group that supports demands for Tibetan autonomy, cited unconfirmed reports of scores of Tibetans killed and hundreds of local university students arrested.
John Ackerly of the group said in an e-mailed statement he feared "hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested and are being interrogated and tortured".
Residents of Lhasa waited anxiously in homes and closed shops on Saturday, wondering if the day would bring fresh confrontation.
"It's quite tense still," said one hostel manager who requested anonymity, as did other residents spoken to.
"We don't dare go outside, so I can't tell you what's happening," said one.
No Change of Policy
The riots have emerged from a volatile mix of pre-Olympics protests, diplomatic friction over Tibet and local discontent with the harsh ways of the region's Party leadership which has heated up in past months.
China has said the Dalai Lama engineered what were the biggest protests in the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan region since 1989, a claim he quickly denied.
China has chided the leaders of the United States and especially Germany in past months for hosting the Dalai Lama, saying such acts boost what they call his "separatist" goals. It has also urged India to stop protests there by exiled Tibetans.
The hardline Communist Party boss of Tibet, Zhang Qingli, formerly served in Xinjiang, the far western region where China has refined tough controls on restive Uighur Muslims.
While it was uncertain whether the clashes would flare again over the weekend, Beijing has already made clear it saw no reason to change its policies in Tibet, where many locals resent the presence of the Han Chinese, China's biggest ethnic group.
China may not respond as harshly as it did to the 1989 protests in Tibet, when current Communist leader Hu Jintao was Communist Party boss of the region, but nor will it show any softness, said Drew Thompson, a China expert at The Nixon Center in Washington.
Already the eruption of popular anger at China's presence in Tibet has become an international issue likely to trouble Beijing's preparations for the Olympics.
The Games should be boycotted if Beijing mishandles the protests, Hollywood actor and Tibetan activist Richard Gere said.
The bitter violence on Friday came after peaceful marches by Buddhist monks in recent days were put down by police. The United States, European Union and U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights urged China to show restraint.
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