Tibet 'calm' masks tension, exiles say

DHARAMSALA, India, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Despite outward calm, political and ethnic tensions are still running high in Tibet as China hosts the Summer Olympic Games, Tibetan exile groups say.

Efforts by the Chinese government to portray Tibet as sanguine and supportive of the Games are masking a situation in which fear is gripping Lhasa and the exile groups in India say hundreds of Tibetans are being held as political prisoners in the wake of March riots, USA Today reported Wednesday.

"Life in Lhasa is now normal, and we even managed to hold the Olympic torch relay," Baima Chilin, vice chairman of China's Tibet government, told reporters recently.

However, exile groups say thousands more Tibetans are being forced to undergo "patriotic education" and to denounce the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.

Tashi Choephel, a researcher at the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India, told USA Today that restrictions on movement and speech have tightened in recent weeks.

"Repression is getting worse, everything is locked up because of the Olympic Games," he said.