On Saturday, Lhasa's streets were mostly empty, and baton-wielding police patrolled the Tibetan provincial capital's streets. But smoke still filled the air from the Friday clashes, and residents were under curfew.
Reports of deaths varied and could not be independently confirmed. But China's official Xinhua News Agency said 10 people _ including two hotel employees and two shop owners _ were burned to death, but that no foreigners were hurt.
Buddhist monks led the protests, which began Monday on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. The violent turn poses difficulties for a communist leadership that has looked to the Aug. 8-24 Olympics as a way to recast China as a friendly, modern power. Too rough a crackdown could put that at risk while balking could embolden protesters.
A top official promised tough measures against detractors.
"We will deal harshly with these criminals in accordance with the law," said Champa Phuntsok, chairman of the Tibetan government. "Calm will be restored very soon."
"Beating, smashing, looting and burning _ we absolutely condemn this sort of behavior. This plot is doomed to failure," said Phuntsok, an ethnic Tibetan, speaking on the sidelines of the National People's Congress, China's annual legislative session.
Law enforcement authorities in Tibet were offering leniency for demonstrators who surrender before Tuesday. Otherwise, they will be "severely punished," according to a notice carried on official Web sites and confirmed by prosecutors.
It accused an unspecified number of lawbreakers of "killing innocent people, surrounding and beating law enforcement officers."
The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in 1959 following the failed uprising but is still Tibet's widely revered spiritual leader, appealed to China not to use violence, saying he was "deeply concerned," and urged Tibetans "not to resort to violence."
It is extremely difficult to get independent verification of events in Tibet since China maintains rigid control over the area. Foreigners need special travel permits, and journalists are rarely granted access except under highly controlled circumstances.
But footage and photos sent from Lhasa showed plumes of smoke billowing from buildings and small shops scattered across several parts of the city. Fire trucks moved through mainly empty streets after dark.
Earlier, eyewitness accounts and photos posted on the Internet portrayed chaos in Lhasa on Friday, with crowds hurling rocks at security forces, hotels and restaurants. The U.S. Embassy said Americans had reported gunfire.
And in an ominous turn for Beijing, the street protests broadened Friday. Photographs taken by camera phone and provided by the Indian branch of Students for a Free Tibet showed hundreds of Tibetans marching through Xiahe, a Tibetan town in the western province of Gansu.
On Saturday, Xinhua said Lhasa had "reverted to calm."
"There was not much traffic on the road," the Xinhua report said. "Burned cars, motorcycles and bicycles remained scattered on the main streets, and the air is tinged with smoke."
Some shops were closed but government staff were required to work, said a woman who answered the telephone at the Lhasa Hotel.
"There's no conflict today. The streets look pretty quiet," said the woman who refused to give her name for fear of retribution.
Tourists already in Lhasa said they were forced to stay in their hotels. Others who arrived Friday were "told to go back immediately without even being allowed to come out of the airport," said a tour guide, who did not want to be identified.
Government workers said they have been prevented from leaving their buildings. "We've been here since yesterday. No one has been allowed to leave or come in," said a woman who works for Lhasa's Work Safety Bureau, located near the Potala Palace, the former residence of the Dalai Lama.
The protests reverberated beyond China.
In Australia, media reported that police used batons and capsicum spray to quell a violent Tibet independence protest Saturday outside the Chinese Consulate in Sydney. The Australian Associated Press reported that dozens of demonstrators were at the scene and that five were arrested.
Dozens of protesters in India launched a new march to Tibet on Saturday just days after more than 100 Tibetan exiles were arrested by authorities during a similar rally.
The demonstrators had vowed to march from India to Tibet, where they planned to arrive at the start of the Olympics in August. The march began Monday. But fearing the march would embarrass China, Indian officials banned the Tibetan exiles from leaving the Kangra district that surrounds Dharmsala, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. On Thursday, police arrested more than 100 protestors who ignored the warnings.
At a demonstration outside the United Nations in New York on Friday, Psurbu Tsering of the Tibetan Association of New York and New Jersey said its members received phone calls from Tibet claiming 70 people had been killed and 1,000 arrested. The reports could not be verified.
Over the centuries, Tibet was at times part of China's dynastic empires. Communist forces invaded the region in 1950, to reclaim the Himalayan region and seize the commanding heights overlooking rival India.
The latest unrest began Monday, the anniversary of the 1959 uprising, when 300 monks from one monastery demanded the release of other monks detained last fall. But political demands soon came to the fore. Other monks and ordinary Tibetans demanded independence and unfurled the Tibetan flag. Arrests ensued, leading to more protests.
The unrest came as Tibet, long China's poorest province, has wracked up stunning growth, in part fueled by hefty investment and subsidies from Beijing meant to alleviate resentment among Tibetans. Still, Tibetans have complained that the economic benefits have mainly enriched Chinese, many of them newcomers, leaving Tibetans feeling more marginalized.
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Associated Press writer Anita Chang in Beijing contributed to this story.
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On the Net:
International Campaign for Tibet: http://www.savetibet.org
Chinese official news agency: http://www.xinhuanet.com
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