Indian police detain Tibetans outside China embassy

Thursday, February 16, 2012

AFP

New Delhi -- Indian police detained 35 Tibetan students on Thursday at a protest outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi against Beijing's rule over Tibet.

Indian police detain a Tibetan exile during a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012. Upcoming Tibetan New Year's celebrations appear poised to bring more bloodshed to the troubled Himalayan region, the head of Tibet's exile government Lobsang Sangay said Tuesday, warning that China has sealed off the regions ahead of a crackdown. He said festivals around the Feb. 22 Tibetan New Year, as well as the March 10 anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising, are very likely to bring Tibetans into the streets. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)

Several young protesters from India's large Tibetan exile community climbed onto police vans before officers dragged them into the vehicles.

At least 20 Tibetans in China have set fire to themselves in the past year to protest against what they call religious and cultural repression by Beijing.

"Tibetans are burning in Tibet. We were protesting to highlight that our monks and nuns have set themselves on fire this year against Chinese repression," activist Palden Sonam told AFP.

"China has intensified the military crackdown and India chooses to detain us but Tibetans will continue the fight for freedom," Sonam, president of the Delhi chapter of the Tibetan Youth Congress group, said.

A Delhi police official, who declined to be named, said that 35 students including seven women were detained at the demonstration.

New Delhi is sensitive about anti-China demonstrations from the Tibetan community in exile, many of whom have lived in India since the country offered refuge to spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in 1959.