China government office attacked in Tibetan area
BEIJING, March 22 (Reuters) - A government office in an ethnic Tibetan part of China's western province of Qinghai was attacked by about 20 people after a man being probed for Tibet independence activities went missing, state media said on Sunday.
Zhaxi Sangwu was taken in for investigation on Friday for "being involved in advocating Tibet independence", the official Xinhua news agency cited police as saying.
"He managed to run away from the police station Saturday afternoon on the excuse of using the bathroom," it added, following which a crowd gathered and attacked a government office.
"Police said the people were deceived by rumours about Zhaxi Sangwu," Xinhua said, without providing further details.
The crowd later dispersed after explanations from police, Xinhua said, adding the man apparently swam across the Yellow River to escape and was still missing.
Rioting broke out in Tibet's capital Lhasa on March 14 last year after days of protests against Chinese rule by Buddhist monks, killing 19 people and sparking waves of protests across Tibetan areas.
Groups of Tibetan exiles say more than 200 people died in the crackdown.
A year later, a tight web of troops and police across Tibetan areas has apparently helped deter any flare-up of unrest.
A trickle of isolated protests in recent weeks, including a monk who set himself on fire at the Kirti monastery in western Sichuan and a bomb thrown at a government office, which caused no casualties, suggest lingering discontent. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard, Editing by Dean Yates)
