"Security patrols continue today and there are still very few people in the streets," a resident, who could not be named for fear of reprisal, told AFP by telephone.

The woman said she was unsure about the number of security forces, but the US-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) told AFP in an emailed statement that new troops had arrived since Saturday's protest.

"The latest information... is that new troops from Xining (Qinghai's capital) have been deployed in the area," said Kate Saunders, communications director of ICT.

Ninety-three monks were held by authorities after what Chinese state media called a riot in which a mob attacked a police station in Rabgya, a town in the mountains of Qinghai province.

It was the first reported case of major unrest in Tibetan-populated areas this year and came less than two weeks after the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region.

It also came just over a week after the first anniversary of riots in the Tibetan capital Lhasa that began on March 14 last year and spread to other areas in China inhabited by Tibetans, including Qinghai.

The protest began after a man held on suspicion of "Tibet independence" activities disappeared, the official Xinhua news agency said.

A video of the protest shot from a mobile phone and posted on the Tibetan news website phayul.com -- the authenticity of which could not be confirmed by AFP -- showed a large crowd of monks and lay-people gathered together and shouting loudly.

According to Xinhua, the protesters had been "deceived by rumours" about the man, who was taken into custody in Rabgya on suspicion of "being involved in advocating 'Tibet independence'".

The man, who was identified as Zhaxi Sangwu, later disappeared after swimming across the Yellow River that passes through the town, Xinhua quoted police and a witness as saying.

The London-based group Free Tibet quoted a source as saying the protesters assembled because they believed he had been forced to jump into the river as the only way of escaping the police station.

Tibet's government-in-exile, in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala, said Monday the man was a monk arrested for pulling down a Chinese flag and replacing it with a Tibetan one.

But it said the subsequent protest was peaceful and denied official media reports that monks attacked the police station.

"Describing the incident as an attack is not accurate as it has been used by the Chinese authorities," said Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the exiled administration.

"The Tibetan protests in front of the police station came as a result of one young monk who committed suicide by jumping into a river. That he was forced to take such desperate action led them to protest against the authorities."

Chinese authorities have launched a massive security clampdown in recent weeks to quell possible unrest related to the 50th anniversary of the uprising, which led spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to flee into exile.

"The Dalai Lama has requested Tibetans to show restraint and also asked the Chinese authorities not to provoke Tibetans by increasing the current crackdown," Samphel told AFP in Dharamshala.

Another resident in Rabgya, who could not be named for fear of retaliation, said he did not know if the monk had wanted to commit suicide or simply escape, or even whether he was dead.

"But what I can tell you is that the river is quite wide, around 50 to 60 metres (165 to 200 feet), and also very deep," he told AFP.

AFP was not able to confirm the information as calls to local government and police offices went unanswered.

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