Two Chinese police officers were injured when a police station was attacked Sunday in the countrys north-west near Tibetan-populated areas, state media reported. The incident, reported by Xinhua news agency, comes amid a heavy security crackdown in Tibet and adjacent Tibetan areas to prevent unrest during this months 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The brief dispatch said the incident occurred in Xining, capital of Qinghai province, which neighbours Tibet and has a substantial Tibetan population. However, it gave no other details and it was not clear whether the incident had any relation to simmering discontent among the regions Tibetans.
Calls to police and government offices in Xining went unanswered on Sunday. State media last week reported an incident on Tuesday in which three traffic police officers in Xining were surrounded and beaten by a group of men as they intervened to sort out a routine traffic accident.
The report, issued Thursday by China National Radio, said two of the officers were taken to hospital in stable condition, and that one of the assailants was arrested. The others were still being sought, it said at the time.
Xining residents reached by telephone on Sunday reported no unusual tension or security presence in the city. Violent outbursts by people upset over perceived police heavy-handedness or government injustices are common in China.
But Sunday mornings incident comes amid high tension in Tibetan areas due to the March 10 anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising that led to the exile of the Dalai Lama, the Himalayan regions spiritual leader. It also comes a day after China launched a new "Serfs Liberation Day" holiday to mark what the government calls the emancipation of Tibetans from the "feudal" rule of the Dalai Lama.
The Xining incident was the second reported attack on a Qinghai police station in a little over a week. On March 21, an angry mob attacked a police station in Rabgya, a mountain town about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Xining that is known in Chinese as Lajia and home to a large monastery, Xinhua reported at the time.
It said 93 monks, most from the Rabgya monastery, were taken into custody by police following the incident. China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending in troops to "liberate" the region the previous year, and Beijing has long maintained that its rule ended a Buddhist theocracy that enslaved all but the religious elite.
But the Dalai Lama and his followers allege China has carried out a systematic campaign of repression in Tibet that has nearly extinguished its unique Buddhist culture.
Last year, widespread anti-China demonstrations and riots erupted in Tibet and other nearby provinces with large Tibetan populations on the uprisings 49th anniversary, prompting this years heavy security crackdown.