Schools resumed normal operation on Monday in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, as the city gradually returned to normal after Friday's riot, teachers said.

Monday was a normal workday for Liu Yan, a teacher with the University of Tibet, who told Xinhua that all his students attended the morning class.

Teacher Wang, a vice-principal at the Jipenggang Primary School, said that he had been pleased to see that all 100 teachers arrived at school at about 7:30 a.m., and the 1,500 students, accompanied by their parents, came to campus one hour later.

"All our teachers and students came to school, except a dozen students, because some roads damaged by the rioters are waiting to be cleared," said the teacher.

Wang Mu, a student who was driven by his father to the Lhasa No. 8 Middle School, told Xinhua: "I dared not to go to school, for I watched the rioters on the TV. It's so dreadful."

Wang Haobo, the headmaster at the No. 8 Middle School, told Xinhua: "Our school opened as usual with normal operations resumed."

Violence broke out in Lhasa on Friday afternoon. Thirteen innocent civilians were burned or stabbed to death in last Friday's Lhasa riot, said Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, at a news briefing in Beijing on Monday.

(Xinhua News Agency, March 17, 2008)