1,500 Tibetans protest in Nepal ahead of Olympics

Thursday, August 07, 2008

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — An estimated 1,500 Tibetans staged a protest in Nepal's capital on Thursday, expressing their anger towards China on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, police and eyewitnesses said.

Tibetan monks and nuns stage a sit-in protest on the outskirts of Kathmandu

Monks and nuns praying and chanting mantras gathered next to a popular Buddhist monastery to demonstrate against a Chinese crackdown in Tibet earlier this year.

Protesters were dressed in T-shirts that read "Help protect the practice of Buddhism in Tibet" and "Stop cultural genocide," an AFP reporter said, while some demonstrators scuffled with police.

One organiser said that the protest was to coincide with the Olympics, which opens Friday, "because it is the right time to highlight the cause of Tibet as the whole world is watching China."

"We want China to guarantee religious freedom and human rights in Tibet," Dakpa Tenzin, chairman of Tibetan Young Buddhist Association, told AFP.

"After the Games are over, we fear more severe crackdowns in Tibet."

Kathmandu has seen almost daily anti-China protests since unrest erupted in Tibet in March.

Nepal has repeatedly said no anti-China activity would be allowed in its territory as it seeks to preserve friendly ties with its giant neighbour.

In July, Human Rights Watch accused Nepal -- home to about 20,000 exiled Tibetans -- of caving in to pressure from China by arbitrarily arresting hundreds of Tibetan protesters.