Tibetan lawmakers attending the National People's Congress in Beijing joined Tibetan buddhist leaders and local Tibetans in condemnation against riotous activities in Lhasa which took away the peace in the plateau city.

Purbu, deputy to the National People's Congress, said he was "shocked and very much saddened" upon learning what happened in his hometown.

"I spoke to my wife over the phone. She was taking care of her ill mother in a hospital when the riot broke out on Friday. She didn't dare to go back home until Sunday morning," he said.

"The lives of the Tibetan people are getting better by the day. We can't afford any more disturbances," said the man, who lived 56 years in the city.

Another lawmaker Saizhoi, deputy head of a farming institute in Lhasa, said her fellow Tibetans needed solidarity, peace and better lives, and "the riotous sabotage was definitely not what the 2.8 million people in Tibet wanted to see".

"It was a only bunch of ill-disposed people attempting a stir," she said, "I talked to my family over the phone, and they told me things fortunately have calmed down now at present."

The 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu condemned the lawless riot in Lhasa, saying the sabotage acts run counter to the Buddhism tenets.

"The rioters' acts not only harmed the interests of the nation and the people, but also violated the aim of Buddhism," Panchen said.

An outburst of violence on Friday, which Tibetan regional government says was engineered by Dalai clique, has claimed the lives of 10 civilians and caused many injuries.

(Xinhua News Agency March 17, 2008)