More than 200 Tibetan exiles arrested in anti-China demonstrations

Jun 8, 2008, 10:23 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepalese police Sunday broke up demonstrations by Tibetan exiles near the Chinese visa office in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and detained more than 200 protestors.

Police said they detained the protestors after they tried to march towards visa office building by breaching police lines.

Police and demonstrators were involved in minor scuffles in which a few Tibetan exiles were injured, Tibetan groups said.

The protestors, who included Buddhist monks carrying Tibetan national flags and placards calling for 'Free Tibet' were rounded up by the police and taken to detention centres.

The protestors chanted 'stop killing in Tibet' and 'Long live Dalai Lama.'

Police said most of the detainees were expected to be free later Sunday.

The protest was the latest of anti-China demonstrations by Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu which first began March 10.

The Nepalese government has previously said it would not tolerate anti-China protests and has used force to break up demonstrations drawing widespread international criticism.

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused the Nepalese police of using excessive force and intimidation tactics, including pre-emptive arrests and threats of deportation back to Tibet.

Nepal has more than 20,000 Tibetans concentrated mainly in the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara in western Nepal.

The figure does not include Tibetans who arrived in the country after 1990 because the Nepalese government stopped registering them as refugees.

Rights groups say about 3,000 Tibetans arrive in Nepal each year crossing dangerous mountain passes and risking their lives to flee Chinese rule.