Lhasa: More than 100 people surrendered themselves to police and admitted involvement in the deadly clashes last week between police and anti-Chinese protesters in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.
Tibet's regional government said 105 people had turned themselves in to authorities by 11 pm on Tuesday (1715 GMT), Xinhua said.
The number of people killed in Friday's clashes remained in dispute. The Tibetan government in exile said at least 80 people were killed by Lhasa police, but local authorities - and Xinhua - said only 13 people died.
Authorities had urged those who participated in the protests to turn themselves in, offering them leniency if they did.
"Those who surrender and provide information on other lawbreakers will be exempt from punishment," Xinhua quoted a police notice as saying.
Doje Cering, 25, told Xinhua he smashed a red car and a white van with stones during the protests. He said he was drunk at home when he heard someone shouting at him to get out or they would burn down his house. He told Xinhua he blindly followed them.
"I was very disturbed by what I did," another protester, 53-year-old Gyaincain, told Xinhua. "My family has persuaded me to give in to police."
Baema Chilain, vice-chairman of the regional government, told Xinhua some people had turned in money they had looted.
A preliminary investigation showed the violence caused losses exceeding 99.1 million yuan, or about $14 million, as of Tuesday night, Xinhua said, citing the regional department of commerce.
Earlier Tuesday, police arrested dozens of people during demonstrations by Tibetan exiles in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu who said they are upset about the treatment of the protesters in Tibet.
Tuesday marked the second day of arrests of Tibetan exiles in front of the United Nations' offices in Kathmandu.
"Altogether 54 Tibetans were arrested for obstructing traffic in front of the U.N. offices," police spokesman Sushil Bar Singh Thapa said.
Tibetan exiles had gone to the U.N. office to ask the international body to put pressure on the Chinese government to "allow demonstrators to exercise their right to freedom of expression and assembly" and "release all Tibetans who have been arrested or detained," protesters said.
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Separately Tuesday, the local administration of Kathmandu questioned two monks about the protests.
"We only questioned them about their ongoing protests as per the rule of the land," said the chief of Kathmandu district administration, Jaya Mukunda Khanal.
One of the monks, however, told CNN that they were warned not to be involved in anti-China protests or they would be sent to Tibet. The monk, who did not want to give his name, said he organized candlelight peace vigils at Buddhist stupas in the city during the last week,
But Khanal insisted that authorities did not tell the monks whether they could or could not protest.
On Monday, 48 Tibetans were arrested, but were released later in the evening. Police also fired tear gas shells to disperse protesting Tibetans on Monday.
Meanwhile, about 150 Tibetans, including about 100 monks, began a 24-hour hunger strike in Nepal Tuesday morning in another protest of the incidents in Tibet last week.
The Dalai Lama said Tuesday he would step down as leader of Tibet's government-in-exile if violence by protesters in the region worsens. The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, made the statement after China's premier blamed his supporters for the growing unrest.
"The Chinese prime minister accuses me of all these things I said," the Dalai Lama said.
"Absolutely not. Prime minister come here and investigate thoroughly all our files, or record my speeches. Then the prime minister will know how much is distorted by local officials."
However, he said he was concerned by the wave of violence in Tibet which erupted last Friday and has left an undetermined number of people dead.
"If things go out of control then my only option is to completely resign," he said.
A spokesman for the Dalai Lama later clarified that he was referring to his political role as Tibetan leader-in-exile, rather than his spiritual role, AP said.
"If the Tibetans were to choose the path of violence he would have to resign because he is completely committed to non-violence," Tenzin Takhla told reporters.
"He would resign as the political leader and head of state, but not as the Dalai Lama. He will always be the Dalai Lama."
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Earlier, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had blamed supporters of the Dalai Lama for the recent violence in Tibet.
He also said Chinese forces exercised restraint in confronting unrest there.
"There is ample fact and we also have plenty of evidence proving that this incident was organized, premeditated, masterminded and incited by the Dalai clique," Wen said in a televised news conference.
The precise number of victims -- and which side they were on -- remained in dispute, but James Miles, a reporter for The Economist, said it appeared that the dead included Tibetans as well as Han Chinese who live and operate businesses in Tibet.
Additional clashes have been reported in other parts of China with significant ethnic Tibetan populations.
Some Tibetans have long advocated independence for Tibet, which is formally an autonomous region of China. The Dalai Lama stopped short of a call for independence this week but argued that the Chinese treat Tibetans as second-class citizens in their own land. He said Tibetans need a full and genuine autonomy to protect their cultural heritage.
Meanwhile global protests have gathered pace, with shows of support for Tibetan independence in South Korea and Australia among others. Sara Sidner, CNN's New Delhi correspondent, reporting from demonstrations in Dharamsala, northeastern India, said: "The protesters have said they are going to protest for as long as it takes."
The Dalai Lama accused China on Monday of "cultural genocide" in Tibet -- something Wen dismissed.
"Those claims that the Chinese government is engaged in so-called cultural genocide are lies," he said, pledging that Beijing will continue to "protect the culture ... in Tibet."
"We will continue to help Tibet improve the livelihood of people of all ethnic groups," Wen said. "We will never waver in this position."
Washington has encouraged China's leaders to reach out to the Dalai Lama.
"We have really urged the Chinese over several years to find a way to talk with the Dalai Lama, who is a figure of authority, who is not a separatist, and to find a way to engage him and bring his moral weight to a more sustainable and better solution of the Tibet issue," Rice said from Moscow on Monday.
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The US State Department urged restraint as the Chinese government responds to the Tibetan protesters.
Meanwhile, CNN's John Vause witnessed the movement of Chinese military convoys near Tibet on Tuesday.
"We saw a convoy of military vehicles heading north on the road to Nwaga County here in Sichuan province," Vause reported. "That's where exiled Tibetan groups claim there have been deadly clashes over the last couple of days with more than 30 protesters, including monks, women and children, killed by Chinese security forces."
There are also claims of violence by Tibetans against ethnic Chinese.
China's Xinhua news agency reported Monday that rioters set fires at more than 300 locations in Lhasa on Friday, including residences and more than 200 shops. Xinhua also said they smashed and burned dozens of vehicles, attacked schools, banks, hospitals, shops, government offices, utilities and state media offices.
A CNN crew tried to travel to Tibet or Nwaga to investigate the reported clashes, but Chinese security forces turned them back while they were several hundred miles away, Vause reported.
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During his news conference, Wen made it clear that government forces would maintain control.
"We are fully capable of maintaining stability and normal public order in Tibet," he said.
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