Nepal police detain Tibetan exiles near border with China

Jun 26, 2009, 7:34 GMT

   Kathmandu - Nepalese police arrested nine Tibetan exiles Friday who were trying to make their way to the Tibetan border as part of their Free Tibet campaign.

   A group of several dozen Tibetan exiles hired a bus in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and were on their way to the Tibetan border town of Khasa when they were stopped by the police at Andheri, about 100 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, officials said.

   Police said nine Tibetans were detained after they tried to force their way through the police line in their efforts to reach Nepal's international border with China, a few kilometres away.

   Tibetan exiles chanted pro-Dalai Lama and Free Tibet slogans and blocked the main highway demanding the release of their colleagues, the police said.

   The protests were the first major demonstration by Tibetan exiles in Nepal in nearly a year.

   Last year, Tibetan exiles demonstrated in Kathmandu almost daily for nearly five months, targeting the Chinese embassy, Chinese embassy consular office and the United Nations.

   Nepal has more than 20,000 Tibetans refugees 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.

   The Nepalese government says it recognises Tibet as a part of China and does not tolerate activities that may harm its relations with its northern neighbour.