China arrests 100 Tibetan monks for attacking police station

Nearly 100 pro-Dalai Lama Tibetan monks were arrested or surrendered after they allegedly rioted and attacked a police station in a Tibetan minority area in northwest China, authorities said on Sunday.

The riot in Ragya, in the mountains of remote Qinghai province, is the first reported major anti-government protest in China's Tibetan areas since the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet on March 10.

Several hundred people, including nearly 100 monks from the Ragya Monastery, attacked the police station of Ragya Township of Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Golog yesterday afternoon. They also assaulted policemen and government staff.

Some of government staff were slightly injured, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

"Most of the people dispersed Saturday evening and some 30 others were persuaded to leave in the early hours of Sunday," it quoted authorities in Golog as saying.

Concerned by the riots, the government has sent a team of officials to the monastery today to ask suspects to surrender.

Police have arrested six participants in the attack while 89 surrendered to police. All but two of the 95 were monks in the Ragya Monastery, the report said.

Police said the violence erupted after a man, Zhaxi Sangwu, accused of supporting separatism escaped from police custody and went missing. A Tibetan exile website claimed that the man committed suicide after fleeing police.

Zhaxi, who hailed from Qinghai province had been under investigation for advocating Tibetan independence when he escaped from police custody in La'gyab yesterday, prompting the authorities to launch a manhunt.

Xinhua cited authorities as saying the man fled after asking to go to the toilet and remained at large. It said the protesters were "deceived by rumours."

Meanwhile, search for the monks who joined the attack and ran away continued, according to Ju Kezhong, a Golog official.

Normalcy in the riot-hit Ragya area has been restored, the official said adding that police were interrogating the suspects.

China has beefed up security in Tibetan areas in recent weeks as Beijing tried to head off trouble ahead of sensitive
anniversaries falling this month.

March 14 marked the first anniversary of anti-government riots in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, while March 17 marked 50 years since the Dalai Lama escaped into exile in India after People's Liberation Army troops crushed a Tibetan armed uprising against Chinese rule.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for Tibet, and severely punishes anyone suspected of supporting moves towards independence.

But the Dalai Lama denies Beijing's accusations, saying he only advocates meaningful autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.