BEIJING – Poker faces were in short supply after Lady Gaga met the Dalai Lama, with Chinese social media users erupting in fury Monday.

The pop star met with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader at the United States Conference of Mayors in Indiana, where the Nobel laureate gave the keynote speech.

After Lady Gaga posted a photo of the two of them on Instagram, a photo sharing site owned by Facebook, the image was inundated with abusive comments.

“Hope is essential to keep the world going.” – His Holiness the Dalai Lama #withcompassion #usmc2016 #kindyouth

A photo posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Jun 26, 2016 at 7:30am PDT

“The way the Chinese feel is just like you were shaking hands with Bin Laden,” one poster wrote.

Another said: “This is proof that she can love and respect a Chinese terrorist. She fundamentally looks down on Chinese fans, and even all Chinese people.” Asked by AFP if the meeting would lead to a “bad romance” between Chinese authorities and the singer, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not recognise the recording artist.

“Who?” he asked. The Dalai Lama was “touting his Tibetan independence policies around the world” he said, adding: “We hope people can see through to his true nature.” The Dalai Lama’s speech mainly focused on hope for the future, US reports said.

“Now, the time has come that America should be the leading nation in the promotion of human compassion, human love in order to achieve compassionate world,” he said, according to the Indianapolis Star newspaper.

“I think in my lifetime we can achieve that. But effort must start now.”

BEIJING – The mayor of a city in central China made a rare public address calling of calm after thousands of people protested against a waste incineration project over fears it would damage the environment and residents’ health.

Tens of thousands of “mass incidents” – the usual euphemism for protests – happen in China each year, spurred by grievances over issues such as corruption, pollution and illegal land grabs, unnerving the stability-obsessed ruling Communist Party.

The city of Xiantao, in Hubei province, said on Sunday it would suspend the project but protests continued on Monday. Photos posted on social media, which could not be verified by Reuters, showed dozens of riot police on the march. “We urge the people of the city to be peaceful and rational, and not to believe rumours, not to organise, join in, or be bystanders at illegal gatherings,” Zhou said in the video, which was carried by state media.

About 10,000 people protested in Xiantao on Sunday, the state-backed Global Times reported, citing a resident, even after the local government said it planned to suspend the project on Sunday morning.

Another resident told Reuters by phone on Monday that the protests continued, and several protesters were injured in clashes with riot police. “There are hundreds of police here because of the demonstrations,” said the resident, who declined to give his name because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The city government called on residents to refrain from taking “extreme actions” and spreading rumours in a statement on its official microblog.

A city public security official said it was prohibited to use text messages and the internet to organize “illegal gatherings” and demonstrations, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhou added that protesters continued to engage in”irrational actions” by gathering in public despite the suspension of the project.

A Xiantao official said that the planned plant’s emissions of dioxin, a toxic compound, would have been in line with European Union standards, state media reported.

Chemical plants have sparked numerous protests across China in recent years, underscoring public fears about choking smog and environmental degradation, which have been costs of the country’s rapid economic growth.

Last June, thousands protested in Jinshan, about 60 km (37 miles) from China’s commercial hub of Shanghai, against plans to build a chemical plant.