After two weeks of lying in a hospital bed, 19-year-old police officer Liu Dingwei still feels a sharp pain whenever he turns over.

"Doctors told me the wound was about the size of my fist," Liu said.

The man from the Chongqing municipality had a chunk of flesh gouged out of his left buttock when he and other armed police were trying to rescue people attacked by rioters near the Ramogia Monastery in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region.

It was about 1:30 pm on March 14 when Liu saw a group of rioters.

"Hundreds of people, mostly young Tibetans and a few monks wielding clubs, rocks and knives attacked us and other Hans," he said.

The police grabbed their shields, batons and helmets and rushed in to rescue the civilians.

The police were not given permission to fight back during the riots. All they could do was rely on the protection of their shields and helmets, which were soon smashed, he said.

Liu was hit on the head with a rock, rendering him unconscious. His squad leader pulled him to safety, but Liu lost a chunk of flesh and later needed seven stitches in his head.

Compared with the soft-spoken Liu, 21-year-old Chen Chong from Sichuan seemed angry.

"Although furious at the atrocity (of the rioters), we were told to exercise restraint and not fight back," Chen, who suffered wounds to his shoulders and legs, said.

Chen was saved by two Tibetans who hid him under the bar of a hotel. The riot that rocked Lhasa left 241 police officers injured and one dead. About 40 police who were injured are still in the hospital.

"It was deceitful to accuse us of attacking the rioters with lethal weapons," Liu said, pointing out that had they done so, fewer police would have been injured.

"I will forgive those who hurt me," he said.

"It might not have been their intention: They might have been coerced by someone else."

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2008)