LEAD: At least 18 Buddhist monks, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed during nationalist protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in early March, according to a new report from a foreigner who went to Tibet after the violence.
At least 18 Buddhist monks, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed during nationalist protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in early March, according to a new report from a foreigner who went to Tibet after the violence.
Many of the monks died when they jumped or were thrown from the Jokhang Temple, a Buddhist shrine in the capital, when Chinese forces stormed it March 5, the account said.
An undetermined number of civilians and at least three Chinese soldiers are also believed to have died in the protests, which were touched off by the arrest of a monk who shouted pro-independence slogans during prayer ceremonies inside the temple, the holiest place of worship in Tibetan Buddhism.
The protests provoked sharp international criticism of Chinese policies in Tibet. The foreigner who provided the latest account is knowledgeable about Tibet and requested anonymity to protect friends and acquaintances there. Most Journalists Barred
News from Tibet has been strictly controlled by the Chinese authorities, who have cut telephone and telex lines to Lhasa and barred most foreign journalists from traveling there. Official Chinese reports have minimized the scale of the disturbances, which they have blamed on the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism who fled into exile in India after Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1959. Shortly after the protest, the official New China News Agency said a policeman was killed and 309 others were wounded in the rioting. But it gave no figures for Tibetan casualties.
Independent accounts of the March 5 protest have described a daylong street fracas in which thousands of protesters stormed through Lhasa, shouting pro-independence slogans, setting fires and attacking police with stones and fists. Several police vehicles were reportedly overturned and set afire, and Chinese reports said Tibetans hurled large stone slabs from the roof of the Jokhang Temple.
In a written description, the foreigner said the demonstrations ''were far worse than those of Oct. 1, and the repercussions are still being felt.'' In protests during October 1987, hundred of monks, supported by many Lhasa residents, burned a police station and staged street demonstrations against Chinese rule. At least 12 Tibetans were reported shot by the police. 'Empty of Monks'
On entering the Tibetan capital after the March protest, the witness wrote: ''I discovered a Lhasa empty of nomads, empty of monks at a time of year when the latter would be omnipresent in the city. Instead, shops were closed, boarded up. People were few.''
After the protests, which were reportedly quelled by a Chinese force of at least 2,000 armed policemen, the foreigner found ''a virtual police state.'' In Lhasa, the writer said, as many as ''120 truckloads of troops, all armed and with machine guns mounted on the cabs will circle the city.''
According to the account, a large number of Tibetan civilians were wounded in clashes with Chinese police and troops, and many Tibetans died because they were denied medical treatment and scores of others were arrested. Many of those arrested had been tortured, some with electric prods, the foreigner wrote.
''Anyone who dies is to be claimed by the family,'' the account said, ''at which point a fee is demanded for food and care offered while in hospital.''
One family, the writer said, was forced to pay more than 1,000 yuan, or about $270, to claim the body of a relative. This is equivalent to 10 months' earnings for an average family.
Since the protests, the writer said, the Chinese authorities have conducted an intensive political indoctrination program. But, the writer added, the atmosphere in the country remains characterized by ''amazing tension.''
Fewer than 10 foreigners are now believed to be living in Lhasa, which has a population about 150,000, and tourist hotels are reportedly empty because of travel restrictions. The new report said the foreigners who remain are closely watched by the police and by Tibetan informers, and that ''people who have had links with foreigners in the past are now suffering because of it.''
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