(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-03-27 13:36

LHASA - A tour by overseas reporters to cover the Lhasa riots was interrupted by a group of lamas at the Jokhang Temple on Thursday morning, but the media tour soon resumed.

Officer with the Information Office of China's State Council, organizer of the media tour, said the coverage of the reporters would go on as scheduled.

The reporters, from 19 media organizations such as the Associated Press from the United States, Financial Times from Britain and South China Morning Post from Hong Kong, are on their three-day trip in Lhasa after the rioting on March 14.

According to the schedule, the reporters first went to a Tibetan medical clinic that had been attacked in the riots near the Jokhang Temple square in downtown Lhasa.

They were also shown the Yishion clothing store where five sales assistants were burned to death in an arson attack by the rioters, the torched buildings of the Lhasa No. 2 Middle School and a smashed outlet of Bank of China.

The reporters would continue to visit local markets, shopping centers, the city's relief station and they would also interview government officials and injured police officers, said the information office official.

Lhasa is returning to normal after the March 14 riots which was organized, premeditated and masterminded by the Dalai Lama clique.

The riots, involving beating, smashing, ransacking and arson led to the deaths of at least 18 innocent civilians and one police officer.

It also left 382 civilians and 241 police officers injured, businesses looted, and residences, shops and vehicles torched.