RIOTS in Tibetan-inhabited areas in the provinces of Si-chuan and Gansu, both neighboring Tibet, were closely linked with last Friday’s deadly unrest in Lhasa and coordinated by the Dalai clique, local government officials said.

The mountainous Aba prefecture in northwestern Sichuan saw mobs attacking shops and government offices Sunday afternoon, while five counties in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in southern Gansu also witnessed similar kinds of unrest from Saturday onwards.

In both provinces, rioters, shouting slogans in support of “Tibet Independence,” carrying rocks and self-made petrol bombs or waving the flag of “Tibetan-government-in-exile,” stormed into government offices, police stations, hospitals, schools, shops and markets.

Reportedly, police officers and government employees were injured by the rioters.

The Tibetan regional government Wednesday issued arrest warrants for 24 criminal suspects engaged in the Lhasa riot.

The 24 are accused of having endangered national security and committed severe criminal offenses in the riot, said Xie Yanjun, vice procurator of the local procuratorate.

By 10 p.m. Wednesday, 170 people involved in last Friday’s Lhasa unrest had surrendered to police, the regional government said Thursday.

“The series of riotous activities were not coincidental, but coordinated and closely linked with the unrest in Lhasa,” said Zhang Yusheng, a spokesman for the Gansu Provincial Government Wednesday.

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“These sabotages were well-organized and premeditated, and their roots were in the Dalai clique, whose ulterior motive was to disturb the Beijing Olympics, destroy the peace and stability and split the country,” he said.

Sources with the Gansu government said pamphlets relating to “Tibetan independence” were already in circulation in the Gannan area on March 10, the same day a “March to Tibet” was organized from across the border in India, and exactly the same day 300 aggressive monks from the Drepung Monastery paraded into downtown Lhasa.

Sources also told Xinhua that some members of the mobss were visiting monks at a lamasery in Gannan.

“Judging from all the signs, the destruction was organized and fanned by separatists inside China and abroad to undermine social order,” said Mao Shengwu, head of the Gannan prefecture, where eight policemen and three government employees were injured.

Local governments have taken action to maintain social order and to protect the safety of the people after the riots occurred. They have also stepped up protection of hospitals, schools, banks and government agencies, said Zhang.

“Police officers and armed police forces exercised massive restraint and handled the incident according to the law,” he said.

Social order in the affected counties is returning to normal, however, local residents said they were still haunted by fears.

On Qiangtang Street, one of the worst-hit areas in the Aba unrest in Sichuan, shop owners were seen cleaning debris Wednesday morning.

Recalling the tumultuous Sunday, Peng Yongfan, owner of the Yongli Shopping Center, looked hopeless and said he had lost more than 5million yuan (US$707,000) of property.

“I have nothing left now except the clothes I’m wearing,” said the 54-year-old man, whose head was wrapped with gauze.

A mob of about 100 broke into Peng’s shopping center at around 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

“They destroyed counters with iron bars and rocks, and plundered my goods. And they poured petrol on those they could not take away and burnt them,” said Peng.

(Xinhua)