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Beijing: Chinese police have detained 953 people involved in riots in Tibet last month, the head of the Himalayan region said on Wednesday.
Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region government, told a news conference in Beijing that prosecutors had also issued arrest warrants for 403 of those detained, a step that generally leads to formal prosecution.
But he added the rioters were only "an extremely tiny minority" of Tibetans and the monks who took part in protests were also "an extremely tiny minority" of the Buddhist clergy.
"They do not, and cannot, represent Tibet and the Tibetan people," he added.
The government had called on rioters to turn themselves in, in return for lenient treatment, and Qiangba Puncog said 362 people voluntarily went to the police.
Some 328 were then released on the grounds that their crimes were light and they had a "good attitude" in confessing them, although it was not clear if the remaining 34 were included in the 953 detainees.
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