A signed article released by Xinhua yesterday reveals how the Dalai Lama clique plotted and incited the violence in Lhasa on March 14 which claimed the lives of at least 18 civilians and one police officer.

The article by Yi Duo said it was untrue for the Dalai Lama and his backers to claim that the riots were a "spontaneous peaceful protest" with which the Dalai Lama had nothing to do.

An unidentified suspect involved in the Lhasa violence confessed to the police that the "security department" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile" asked him to distribute leaflets promoting the so-called "Tibetan people's uprising movement" among civilians and monks in Tibet, according to the article.

"The violence on March 14 was related to the instigation by the 'security department' of the 'Tibetan government-in-exile'," the suspect said.

"To protect myself, (the Dalai Lama clique) asked me not to participate in the demonstrations, just take charge of stirring people up," the suspect said.

"The beating, smashing, looting and burning were by no means peaceful demonstrations, and the deeds were inhuman," the suspect admitted. "If they (the Dalai Lama clique) wanted to follow the non-violent 'middle way', such violence should have never happened."

On the same day that violent mobs attacked innocent Lhasa civilians, a closed-door meeting was held by the Dalai Lama clique on how to "build on the achievements," the article said.

The meeting decided to mobilize all monasteries in Tibet with more than 100 lamas each, especially those of the Yellow Sect in Tibetan Buddhism, and ask the monks to take to the street and involve common Tibetans in the demonstrations. The meeting also plotted to launch protests in various stages in Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Samdhong, "prime minister" of the "Tibetan government-in-exile", said at the meeting that they should seize the very rare opportunity of the holding of the Beijing Olympics to make breakthroughs in the "Tibet cause"; to pave the way for the Dalai Lama to "return" to Tibet; and to achieve high autonomy in "Greater Tibet" and its goal of "abolishing" the existing management method on reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas.

The Dalai clique also entrusted the "ministry of finance" of the "government-in-exile" the task of "financially supporting the decisive battle against the Chinese government", the article said.

A day after the violence began on March 14, the "Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC)", a hardline organization affiliated to the Dalai Lama supporters that openly preaches violence, decided at a meeting in Dharamsala - northwest India, where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" is located - that "guerillas should infiltrate Tibet and start armed struggles", the article said.

They also drafted plans on recruitment and weapons purchases; and planned to steal into Tibet through the China-Nepal border.

The "TYC" leaders said they were ready to "sacrifice another 100 Tibetans at least" to achieve their goal.

Besides the "TYC", other organizations affiliated to the Dalai Lama supporters also sent people to Tibetan communities in India and Nepal, urging residents there to contact people in Tibet and other Tibetan-inhabited areas in China through telephone or e-mail and incite them, "in the name of Dalai Lama", to hold demonstrations following the Lhasa violence.

Cewang Rigzin, the "TYC" president, said at a meeting on March 20 that violence had "achieved its goal" of "awakening resistance among people in Tibet and attracting high-profile international attention to the Tibet issue" but the struggle "will not stop and this incident is just the prelude to this year's fight".

The article detailed how the Dalai Lama's backers masterminded a so-called "Tibetan people's uprising" that led to the violence in Lhasa.

Five organizations affiliated to the "Tibetan government-in-exile" - the "TYC", the "Tibetan Women's Association (TWA)", "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)", the "National Democratic Party of Tibet (NDPT)" and the "Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet (GCSMT)" - announced the formal start of a "Tibetan people's uprising" on Jan 4 this year and founded a temporary office in charge of coordination and financing headed by Cewang Rigzin, according to the report.

They claimed the movement is a "turning point in the history of Tibetans' struggle for freedom," the article said.

"They divided the movement into four stages," it said. The first was to recruit participants and promote the ideas of the movement. The second step, or the action stage, started on March 10, followed by the third, which was organizing demonstrations across the world. The last was to launch action in the regions inhabited by Tibetan people inside China.

From Feb 15 to 17, the five organizations conducted training programs for people in charge of the movement's activities in Dharamsala. Four days later, they started a six-day campaign in the same place to recruit participants.

The "GCSMT" obtained financial assistance from the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) on Feb 27 from a fund "for activists to deal with danger".

According to an NED report, the foundation granted $1.36 million to the Dalai Lama backers between 2002 and 2006. In 2006 alone, it gave $85,000 to organizations such as the "TWA" and the "GCSMT".

The Dalai clique questioned about 300 Tibetans who were smuggled across the border from China in February to collect information for planned attacks on border posts or infiltration into China, the article said.

On March 10, after careful selection, 101 hard-core members set off from Dharamsala to launch the movement.

March 10 is the anniversary of the so-called "Tibet uprising" in 1959. On that date 49 years earlier, Lhasa witnessed a bloody riot initiated by the Dalai Lama's backers.

The day, marked annually by the Dalai Lama's backers, is a commemoration of violence. And history seemed to have repeated itself.

The same day this year, a ceremony was held in Dharamsala to mark the event. The 14th Dalai Lama said in a critical statement that the Chinese government had "imposed more severe repression upon Tibetans in Tibet", and "trampled on human rights and limited religious freedom".

He also expressed appreciation for the "Tibetan people's sincerity, courage and resolution".

Immediately after the ceremony, about 300 monks from Zhaibung Monastery tried to march into central Lhasa. In the following days, monks from other temples in Lhasa also tried to demonstrate but were restrained by police.

When the monks' efforts to spread unrest failed, violent rioters came on March 14. They torched shops and vehicles, even ambulances, and attacked innocent passers-by on the streets.

After the Lhasa riots on March 14, which have so far known to have claimed at least 18 civilian lives and caused 382 injuries, unrest erupted in other Tibetan-inhabited regions in the southern part of Gansu province and the northern part of Sichuan province.

Mobs, some shouting slogans for "Tibet independence" and bearing flags of the so-called "Tibetan government-in-exile", stormed into and attacked government offices, police stations, hospitals, schools and banks.

Moreover, the backers of the Dalai Lama spread violence even further by organizing rioters to attack Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States, Canada, India, Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia, the article said.

The Dalai Lama released a statement via his personal secretariat on March 14, in which violent actions were described as "peaceful protests". On the same day, the "Tibetan government-in-exile" defined the riots in another statement as peaceful demonstrations by Tibetans to protest Chinese policies.

Commenting to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on March 16, the Dalai Lama said, when prompted, that he would not ask the rioters to stop.

The Chinese government later released film and photographs showing the violent attacks that took place during the riots in Lhasa, which are regarded as a contradiction to the vaunted "peaceful image" of the Dalai Lama.

On the advice of his supporters, the Dalai Lama changed his tune at a press conference on March 18, when he said that he should not have created an anti-Chinese mood in the international arena. The only option would be his retirement if the situation got out of control, the Dalai Lama said.

His comments were soon seen by the international community as an admission that he had a responsibility for the riots in Lhasa.

After Beijing won the bid for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the Dalai Lama supporters claimed that it would be a "decisive battle" to seek "Tibet independence" by interfering with the Olympics.

Lordain, chairman of the working department of "2008 Free Tibet Movement" said in December 2004: "People around the world will pay close attention to China (for the Olympics) and that gives us a unique opportunity to bring political pressure on the Chinese government."

In the last two years, the Dalai Lama and his followers have launched a series of Olympics-related actions for achieving their goals:

- In April 2007, members of "Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)" raised banners of "Tibet independence" at the base camp of Mount Qomolangma to boycott the Beijing Olympics.

- In May, the Dalai Lama's supporters declared that they would hold a "Tibetan Olympics" in Dharamsala and established an "organizing committee" for it.

- The Dalai clique's "Network of International Support to Tibet" also organized an athletes' "delegation" consisting of Tibetans living outside China and requested the International Olympic Committee to allow them to "participate in the Beijing Olympics on behalf of Tibet".

- The "TYC" decided to launch a "Death Torch" relay in April from Dharamsala to New Delhi, India's capital.

- The head of the Dalai clique's "Tibet Independence Movement" has said that the Beijing Olympics is an important opportunity for international communities to press the Chinese government to improve human rights, continue dialogue with the Dalai Lama and peacefully resolve the Tibet issue. Tibetans living everywhere should participate in the fighting, he said.