(TibetanReview.net, Mar 11, 2009) — Two police vehicles parked in a timber farm near the remote Pema (Chinese: Baima) County of Golog (Chinese: Guoluo) Prefecture of Qinghai Province were hit by minor explosions shortly after 2 am on Mar 9 following clashes between forest police and local residents, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Mar 9. “The emergency lights and roofs of a police car and a fire engine were destroyed by unsophisticated homemade explosives,” Lin Yasong, the prefecture’s party chief, was quoted as saying. There were no fatalities.
Earlier, on Mar 8 afternoon, forest police had stopped a local resident’s timber truck at a checkpoint in Makehe Forest Farm for a routine check of their cargo and licenses. A quarrel broke out between the occupants of the vehicle and the police, leading to dozens of local residents gathering at the station to protest. The crowd didn’t disperse until midnight, the report said.
Times online (UK) Mar 9 reported that several home-made explosive devices were hurled at the two vehicles near Malonghe forestry centre.