Beijing, March 26 : Amid rising global pressure against its intensified crackdown on Tibetans, China on Wednesday claimed that over 660 pro-independence protesters had surrendered for their alleged role in the unrest which left 20 people dead as it escorted foreign journalists to the riots-scarred Lhasa.

Police have released a list of 53 people wanted for the riots and announced on Monday that five suspects, including three women, had been detained for their role in burning 10 persons to death in two cases.

More than 280 people had turned themselves in to police in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, the official Xinhua news agency claimed while state-run China Daily reported that another 381 had surrendered in Aba county in Sichuan province, where trouble had spread from Lhasa.

“Most of those who have come forward are ordinary people and monks who were deceived or coerced (by the rioters),” Shu Tao, party chief of the village of Luoerda, where 63 people handed themselves in to police, said.

Partly breaking the barrier to reporting from Lhasa which had remained out of bounds to reporters, Chinese Gflew a chosen few foreign journalists from Beijing to the Tibetan capital, 12 days after it was rocked by the worst riots in 20 years.

After days of calm, violence had erupted in Garze prefecture in Sichuan province on Monday, in which rioters armed with knives and stones attacked policemen, killing one officer, taking the toll in the riots to 20. Around 700 were injured in the unrest.