Foreign journalists expelled from Tibet

China has expelled journalists from Lhasa in Tibet and suspended permits for foreigners to travel to the region.

The Hong Kong Journalists' Association has issued a statement saying reporters from at least six Hong Kong media groups were ordered to leave Lhasa by plane.

The association called the expulsion unacceptable and said it contravened new government regulations allowing greater access for foreign journalists prior to this year's Beijing Olympics.

The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said it had details of two dozen foreign reporters who were expelled from Lhasa and other Tibetan areas.

Some reporters were told they were barred due to police action, the club said.

Extended government censorship of the Internet and international television broadcasts since the protests began last week was also hampering journalists, it said.

The German newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau reported that staff from international non-governmental organizations were also ordered to leave Lhasa by Monday, raising fears that troops could toughen their crackdown on the protestors once a deadline for protestors to surrender passed at midnight Monday.