Smash hit

The boy said that he was a Han and begged for protection, which the lama offered in the warren of rooms of the building.

After nightfall, the crowds melted away with groups still huddled in doorways watching the fires ablaze, and the columns of smoke furling across the city and disappearing over the distant Potala Palace.

Late in the evening, two or three fire engines moved down Beijing Road accompanied by a few armoured personnel carriers.

I walked past these and saw the police quietly sitting on top of them with their automatic rifles and helmets, but even when this well protected they did not deploy on the street at this stage.

The authorities’ main concern in the evening was to stop the fires from engulfing the narrow alleyways of the old Tibetan quarter. As they put out the fires, Tibetans watched but did not attempt to stop them. Neither did the occasional police vehicle venturing up and down Beijing Road attempt to stop any of the Tibetans walking past. It seemed as the night wore on that the authorities were still waiting for a political decision to be made as to how to handle the unrest.

I saw lines of riot police in two places at the perimeter of the riot-torn area and I saw riot police walking in front of the Jokhang temple alongside one of their vehicles with helmets and riot shields, but not firearms. Beyond these limited displays of strength, the authorities watched and waited and allowed the riots to take their course.

One Chinese trader told me as she sat terrified above her shop that she had lost 200,000 yuan (£14,000) of bicycles after doing business in Lhasa for only a few weeks.

As I spoke to her in Mandarin, she begged me to keep my voice down lest the sound of the Chinese dialect excite the people outside. And we spoke in darkness in case they recognised that Chinese traders were still in the building.

The violence was fuelled by rumour. There was rumour of killings of monks and ordinary Tibetans by security forces during the day – including reports, unconfirmed, that a handful had been shot dead in front of the Jokhang Temple itself.

I saw no evidence of deaths, but many people to whom I spoke were convinced that not only Tibetans had died, but that a number of ethnic Chinese had also been killed by the mob.

Destination Lhasa

— It is technically necessary to obtain a special visa for travel in Tibet before you arrive, in addition to a Chinese visa. But many websites say it is possible to travel to Chengdu then catch a flight to Lhasa

— Another way to get to Lhasa is on the high-altitude daily express train running between Beijing and Lhasa. The journey takes 48 hours and full details and timetables can be found on chinatibettrain.com

— You will not be able to buy a railway ticket from a tour operator unless it is part of a package, but if you are planning to travel around Tibet, you could buy one as soon as you arrive. Visit Tibet Travel & Tours (00 86 891 6922114, www.visittibet.com) will sell you a sleeper berth for £110 if you book 11 days in advance

— Expert opinion varies on both the safety and morality of travel to Tibet. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office says go, the Australian Government says no. The pressure group Free Tibet recognises that travelling lends legitimacy to China’s occupation but also that visitors are encouraged by the Dalai Lama to engage with Tibetans and provide information to support organisations outside the country

— The excellent Tibet travel website Himmies says: “The Dalai Lama actually encourages people to go to Tibet and then tell the world what they have seen”

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