A YOUNG boy who was attacked by a mob during the March 14 Lhasa riots Monday criticized a Western media report carrying a picture that labeled him "an insurrectionist" being taken away by police. He said he was being rescued by the Chinese police and had not been arrested.

Luo Jie, 14, said he was riding a bicycle on a street near the Ramoqe Temple carrying his pet dog on the afternoon of March 14, when he saw a group of rioters smashing roadside shops.

"I was frightened and decided to turn back home," he said."But all of a sudden, a stone hit me on the head. Then, about five young men — I don't know where they came from — pulled me off my bike and started beating me with stones, sticks and fists.

"I tried many times to stand up and and run away, but I was knocked to the ground again and again. I thought I was going to die," he told Xinhua.

"Suddenly, I felt someone was grasping my arms, helping me stand up and run away. I struggled to open my eyes through the blood and saw about four police officers.

"They didn't stop running despite so many stones being thrown at them. At last, they took me to an ambulance," the boy said. A front tooth was broken in the attack.

The distorted media report with the picture of Luo's image being carried by police appeared on the website of the Berlin Morning Post on March 18. It raised a public outcry in China and overseas.

The young boy went to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, four years ago with his parents from Zigong, Sichuan Province that borders Tibet. His parents run a newspaper stand.

"He is recovering gradually after receiving medical treatment. His mother and I have calmed down," said Luo Xuping, Luo Jie's father.

"We've been told these days someone took a photo of the police rescuing my son. But what makes me angry is that a foreign website reported the police were capturing a Tibetan insurrectionist," said Luo senior.

"My son was saved by the police, but they were nevertheless wronged and used as a 'negative example' by some media."

"That's unfair," he said.

(Xinhua)