Chinese media silent on Tibet

China's state TV made no mention of the protests

China's official news agency Xinhua on Friday filed two short English-language reports on what it called "violence" in the Tibetan city of Lhasa.

The first report said shops had been set on fire, with the second adding that some vehicles had been set alight and that there had been some injuries.

But the domestic media, including Xinhua's Chinese-language service, has not been observed to mention today's protests.

The focus of all Chinese news media continues to be on the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Other media silent

As of 1200GMT, neither Xinhua's English nor Chinese websites have been observed to carry any reports on the protests in Tibet.

The Tibet page of the Xinhua website still carries Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang's remarks at yesterday's routine news conference, at which he said: "Recently a small number of monks in Lhasa city have continuously stirred up trouble in an attempt to create social unrest.

"This is a political plot carefully orchestrated by the Dalai clique to bring about Tibet's secession and to ruin the Tibetan people's normal, harmonious, and peaceful lives.

"The current situation in Lhasa city is stable thanks to the work of the local government and the democratic management committees of local temples."

China's state broadcaster China Central Television made no mention of the protests in its flagship 1100GMT news bulletin "News Hookup".

Lhasa Municipal People's Government website and Tibet-based Chinese news websites have not been observed to carry any reports on the protests either.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.