Reuters: China accuses Dalai Lama on Tibet 18 March

China alleges the exiled Dalai Lama is conspiring to wreck the Beijing Olympic Games by masterminding a wave of protests that began with peaceful rallies. China says 19 people have been killed as those rallies turned to riots, the Tibetan government-in-exile puts the death toll at about 130.

The spiritual leader was driven into exile after the 1959 uprising against the Chinese regime. He denies he masterminded the recent protests in the capital of Tibet from his base in Dharamsala and says he wants greater autonomy for his homeland, not independence, as China suspects.

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday (March 18th) defended the security crackdown imposed on Tibet's capital Lhasa following the unrest there and suggested there was evidence that it was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama's inner circle. The Tibetan government-in-exile said from the Dalai Lama's base in Dharamsala in India that it now believed 99 people had died in clashes between the Chinese authorities and Tibetan protestors over the past week.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has appealed to the world community to "please help" resolve the crisis in his homeland that has been rocked by deadly anti-Chinese protests during a press conference today held in the Indian capital. "We have no power except justice, truth, sincerity... that is why I appeal to the world community to please help," the Buddhist icon told a news conference in the Indian capital where he was conducting meditation sessions. "I am here helpless, I just pray," said the exiled spiritual leader two weeks after anti-Chinese protests in the Himalayan region turned bloody, leading to calls for a boycott of the August Beijing Olympic Games.

The Dalai Lama and about 100,000 Tibetans have lived in exile in India since fleeing their homeland in 1959. China says the door for talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader is always open as long as he recognises Tibet is part of China.

China's state-run television showed footage of riots in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa Saturday and squarely blamed the unrest on "splittist" elements loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama. The footage on China Central Television showed hundreds of angry rioters running amok in the streets of Lhasa, breaking into buildings and setting fire to vehicles and stores. A small group of monks were seen smashing a public telephone, while a group of men tore down the metal barrier to the door of a Bank of China in what appeared to be Lhasa's famous Barkor district. "There is plenty of evidence that shows that this is an organised and plotted attack carried out by the Dalai Lama clique," the voice over to the footage said. "The people of Tibet are incensed by this and strongly condemn these activities which are doomed to failure.", the voice over added. China said Saturday that 10 people had been burnt to death during the violent unrest, which has added to the pressure on Beijing just months before it hosts the Olympic Games. Witnesses said tanks and armoured vehicles were out in force in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Saturday morning, a day after the worst protests against China's controversial rule in the vast, mountainous region in nearly 20 years.

Paris city council voted on Monday to award honorary citizenship to the Dalai Lama, amid a chill in relations between France and China after the chaotic Olympic torch relay in Paris two weeks ago.

Tibet’s spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, has accused the Chinese government of committing “cultural genocide” in his homeland. Speaking on the sidelines of an interfaith conference of world religious leaders in Amritsar, India, the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner also fueled speculation that he will name his successor before his death, breaking with Buddhist tradition.

Officials from China's Buddhist Association blame the Dalai Lama for the riots in Tibet and denounce the rioters as separatists.