200 Tibetans reported arrested

Scores of people were arrested in a traditionally Tibetan area of western China after public calls for the return of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, reports said.

China also moved to tighten its control over Tibetan Buddhism by asserting the communist government’s sole right to recognize Buddhist reincarnations of the lamas that form the backbone of the religion’s clergy.

Police and army reinforcements were sent to Lithang in western Sichuan province after the incident Wednesday at a horse festival, according to the monitoring group International Campaign for Tibet and the U.S.-supported Radio Free Asia. The radio outlet said 200 Tibetans were taken into custody.