Police fired warning shots as fresh violence in a Tibetan-populated area in southwest China left at least one government official seriously injured
BEIJING: Police fired warning shots as fresh violence in a Tibetan-populated area in southwest China left at least one government official seriously injured despite the massing of troops by Beijing in the volatile Himalayan region.
Tibetan groups overseas claimed that at least eight people had been killed in the new riots on Thursday night in the Tibetan autonomous prefecture of Garze in southwest China's Sichuan province.
Local authorities said the violence erupted when mobs attacked the seat of the Donggu township, the government of Garze county, seriously injuring the official from the local People's Congress who was on an inspection tour of the town.
"Police were forced to fire warning shots and put down the violence," official Xinhua news agency quoted an official of the prefectural government as saying.
The Tibetan groups claimed police opened fire in a protest led by Buddhist monks demanding the release of two Lamas detained for possessing photographs of the Dalai Lama.
After the Tibetan capital Lhasa was rocked by violence on March 14, riots had spread to Tibetan inhabited areas of Sichuan and Gansu provinces.
Thursday night's riots in Garze prefecture come nearly a fortnight after violent mobs had killed a police officer in the same province.
The latest incident occurred the same day when China announced that Tibet would be opened to tourists from May one, weeks after it was out of bounds following the unrest, to send a message that the government was in control and normalcy had been restored.
The strongest-ever anti-government protests in two decades that rattled the Communist leadership and apparently took the local authorities off guard has left 20 people dead and over 700 injured. The Tibetan government-in-exile claims 140 people died in the Chinese crackdown on protesters.
China has repeatedly been accusing the Dalai Lama and his supporters of having masterminded the violence, a charge the Tibetan leader living in exile in India since he fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959 denies.
On Tuesday, China had also claimed that "Tibet independence forces" were planning bloody attacks through suicide squads ahead of the Olympics here in August, but this was dismissed by the Tibetan government in exile as a propaganda.
Tibet was out of bounds until last week when it allowed a select delegation of journalists followed by diplomats on government-controlled trips.
Meanwhile, China is expected to put on a swift trial soon Tibetans charged with involvement in riots during the monks-spearheaded anti-government protests that had brought Beijing under global spotlight.
The 'Tibet Commerce' reported that more than 1,000 people had either been arrested or surrendered for their role in the riots, adding that trials of some would commence this month.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}