381 rioters surrender to police

As of noon on Monday, 381 people involved in the riots in the Tibetan-inhabited Aba county of Sichuan province had turned themselves in to police, the local government said yesterday.

Law enforcement authorities in Aba issued a notice last Wednesday, urging those engaged in the riots that broke out in the county on March 16, to surrender within 10 days. In the meantime, related legislation, such as the Criminal Law and Anti-secession Law, were widely publicized through the local media.

"Most of those who have come forward are ordinary people and monks who were deceived or coerced," Shu Tao, party chief of the village of Luoerda, where 63 people have handed themselves in to police, said.