Chinese policeman killed in Tibetan region-Xinhua
BEIJING, March 25 (Reuters) - A mob armed with stones and knives has killed an armed Chinese policeman in a Tibetan part of western China, Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday, a sign that unrest is still flaring despite a huge security presence.
Wang Guochuan died during an attack on Monday on a group of police in the Garze Tibetan Prefecture in Sichuan province, the report said, adding that several others were wounded in the clash that ended after the police fired warning shots.
The report did not say if the attackers were Tibetan. Anti-government demonstrations, which in some cases have turned violent, erupted throughout ethnic Tibetan parts of western China last week, following a March 14 riot in Tibet's capital Lhasa.
Xinhua had reported the areas had been calm since late last week and China has poured armed police into the regions to prevent further unrest, which the government says has been coordinated by the Dalai Lama from his home in exile.
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, has lived in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala since 1959, when he fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule. He denies masterminding the protests.
In Sichuan's Aba country, where the government said police opened fire on an earlier protest, some 381 people surrendered to authorities for joining in, Xinhua reported.
Crowds had attacked government offices, police stations, schools and hospitals, the report said.
It did not say when they might face trial for the violent demonstrations, in which some protestors carried the banned flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile and shouted independence slogans, or what penalty they could expect.
"Among those surrendered, most are common people or monks deceived or coerced," Xinhua quoted Shu Tao, Communist Party head in a village where 40 people turned themselves in, as saying.
Some 23 monks surrendered on Sunday, the report added.
China on Monday vowed strict security for the Olympic torch relay through restive Tibet after protesters tried to disrupt the torch lighting ceremony in Greece, clouding Beijing's hopes of the relay symbolising national unity.
Before Monday's incident, China said 19 people had died in the violence. The Tibetan government-in-exile raised its death toll to 130 on Monday. China has barred foreign journalists from Tibet and surrounding areas, making independent verification of the reports difficult. (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Ken Wills and Alex Richardson)
Wang Guochuan died during an attack on Monday on a group of police in the Garze Tibetan Prefecture in Sichuan province, the report said, adding that several others were wounded in the clash that ended after the police fired warning shots.
The report did not say if the attackers were Tibetan. Anti-government demonstrations, which in some cases have turned violent, erupted throughout ethnic Tibetan parts of western China last week, following a March 14 riot in Tibet's capital Lhasa.
Xinhua had reported the areas had been calm since late last week and China has poured armed police into the regions to prevent further unrest, which the government says has been coordinated by the Dalai Lama from his home in exile.
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, has lived in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala since 1959, when he fled Tibet following a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule. He denies masterminding the protests.
In Sichuan's Aba country, where the government said police opened fire on an earlier protest, some 381 people surrendered to authorities for joining in, Xinhua reported.
Crowds had attacked government offices, police stations, schools and hospitals, the report said.
It did not say when they might face trial for the violent demonstrations, in which some protestors carried the banned flag of the Tibetan government-in-exile and shouted independence slogans, or what penalty they could expect.
"Among those surrendered, most are common people or monks deceived or coerced," Xinhua quoted Shu Tao, Communist Party head in a village where 40 people turned themselves in, as saying.
Some 23 monks surrendered on Sunday, the report added.
China on Monday vowed strict security for the Olympic torch relay through restive Tibet after protesters tried to disrupt the torch lighting ceremony in Greece, clouding Beijing's hopes of the relay symbolising national unity.
Before Monday's incident, China said 19 people had died in the violence. The Tibetan government-in-exile raised its death toll to 130 on Monday. China has barred foreign journalists from Tibet and surrounding areas, making independent verification of the reports difficult. (Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Ken Wills and Alex Richardson)
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