"I have nothing except these clothes I am wearing," moaned a 73-year-old Lhasa resident Zhoema in front of her home that was burnt down by rioters on March 14.

She, together with five other families inhabiting the same building in downtown Lhasa, were left homeless. The six families are taking shelter in the offices of a nearby primary school.

The old Tibetan woman had only time to wake up her son in the evening when she heard the cries of "Fire". "Now I do not even own a handful of highland barley flour," she said.

The fire lasted more than 40 minutes and left the three-storey building badly damaged.

"I have seen nothing more cruel than this riot," said Fu Wenjin, a business man from the southeastern Fujian Province who suffered a loss of about 500,000 yuan after his mobile phone shop was looted.

Ye Danping, who owns a children's garment shop in Duosenge street, a busy commercial street, said she suffered 6 million yuan of loss, "my heart was totally broken when my gains of years were torched."

However, Ye said she would continue to do business in Lhasa as she believes in a bright future.

"Lhasa has been developing fast thanks to the stability in recent years. However, the rioters tried to sabotage this," a resident named Cering said. Tibet residents, experts, religious leaders and others have denounced the violence.

The 11th Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, said on Sunday that the riot in Lhasa ran counter to Buddhist tenets.

Living Buddhas in Tibet also voiced their opposition. Ngawang Daindzin, a living Buddha, said that "the rioters who wore cassocks were not real monks at all. What they did is completely against Buddhism codes."

"It is violence planned and incited by domestic and overseas secessionist forces who collaborated closely in pursuit of 'Tibet independence'," said Pagbalha Geleg Namgyai, a top political advisor.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2008)