The Dalai Lama said last month’s Xinjiang riots show that Beijing needs to rethink its policy towards ethnic minorities, Reuters reported. Speaking during a trip to Geneva, the Dalai Lama said that he believes a more "realistic" policy on minorities could emerge within the next 10 years. He said that many in the central government privately acknowledge that a change in policy is needed. "Their policy basically failed to bring enthusiasm in the minority people," he said. According to Beijing, 197 people died in the riots in Xinjiang last month, the majority of whom were Han Chinese. The riots started after police tried to break up a protest against attacks on ethnic Uighur migrant workers in South China.