Beijing: A police officer was killed in fresh violence in Sichuan province near Tibet, China said today as it struggled to quell the fortnight-long monks-led pro-independence protests and vowed stricter control of Buddhist monasteries.

Armed with knives and stones, a mob attacked the police officers in Garze prefecture yesterday, killing one of them on the spot and injuring several others, a local official said.

The police fired warning shots and dispersed the lawless mobsters, the official was quoted as saying by state run Xinhua news agency.

Authorities also claimed that 381 people, mostly monks, had "surrendered" in Tibetan-populated area of southwest Sinchuan, where the police had opened fire and wounded four persons last week after the riots which had broken out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa spilled into the nearby provinces.

China's Minister for Public Security Meng Jianzhu visited Lhasa vowing stricter management of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries there, the official Tibet Daily reported today.

"Tibetan Buddhist culture is an important constituent part of Chinese civilisation. But any religion must act within the bounds of Constitution and the law, and not interfere in administration, judiciary, education and so on," Meng said.

At least 19 people were killed and 700 injured after the pro-independence demonstrations by monks coinciding with 1959 failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet turned violent spiralling into the first major challenge to the communist giant in two decades.
Source : PTI