“Chinese authorities have launched mass arrests of Tibetans in Lhasa for interrogation about the fiercest anti-Chinese uprising for decades, a Beijing-based source told Reuters on Wednesday. President George W. Bush urged Chinese President Hu Jintao by phone to open dialogue with the exiled Dalai Lama. Hu said China would not talk to the man it accuses of fomenting deadly riots and trying to sabotage the Beijing Olympics. The province of Qinghai, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from Lhasa, was the latest area to see unrest. Ethnic Tibetans staged a sit-down protest after police stopped them from marching, said the Beijing-based source who had spoken to residents. ‘They (police) were beating up monks, which will only infuriate ordinary people,’ the source said of the protest on Tuesday in Qinghai’s Xinghai county.” (03/26/08)