Tibetans in India, Nepal protest "blood" Olympics

Fri Aug 8, 2008 6:17am EDT

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police detained hundreds of angry Tibetan refugees who tried to storm a Chinese consular office in Kathmandu on Friday as protests in India and Nepal grew hours before the Olympic Games open in Beijing.

Police block Tibetan protesters from approaching the Chinese consular office in Kathmandu August 8, 2008. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)

In New Delhi, nearly 3,000 Tibetans shouting anti-China slogans braved heavy rains to protest near India's parliament against the Olympics being staged by China.

"China is not the right place to hold Olympics, it is a blood Olympics, it is a shame Olympics," shouted Kalsang Tsering, a Tibetan protester.

In Kathmandu, Nepali police detained 1,095 Tibetan refugees who tried to storm a Chinese consular office.

"We want that the Tibetans should stop protesting, taking into consideration the long-lasting relations of friendship with China," Nepali Home Ministry spokesman Modraj Dotel told Reuters.

The protests came as thousands of performers readied in Beijing for the opening of the Games at eight minutes past 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month -- the number symbolizing fortune -- before an estimated global audience of 1 billion.

In India's capital, angry Tibetan exiles and monks scuffled with the police as they were stopped from getting close to the parliament building.

"Stop the Olympics, China is no place to stage it," Jampa Lobsang, a Tibetan monk dressed in maroon robes, said as hundreds of protesters dressed in yellow and green "Free Tibet" t-shirts stamped on posters of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Thousands cheered as a few hundred Myanmar pro-democracy supporters joined them waving Tibetan flags while the police put up barricades.

Dozens of old women, wearing yellow "Save Tibet" caps, joined young protesters and held banners reading "People of the world listen to the cry" and "Olympics winner is Chinese brutality."

India has been a centre of regular Tibetan protests for months and exiles have even scaled the walls of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi at least twice since last August.

A police officer tugs the hair of a protester while restraining her near the Chinese consular office in Kathmandu August 8, 2008. REUTERS/Gopal Chitrakar (NEPAL)

In Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India, more than 2,000 Tibetan monks and protesters marched through the serpentine lanes.

"We feel very concerned and moved by the cause of Tibetans and we want to support them to fight against the genocide," said Zoika, a volunteer from France, holding a "Free Tibet" placard.

Protesters in Kathmandu were quickly overpowered by hundreds of riot police who hauled them into iron-meshed blue vans and open trucks and took them to detention centers.

"Stop killing in Tibet," some protesters shouted, with red and blue ribbons emblazoned with "Free Tibet" around their heads.

Most protesters detained in Nepal are usually released within a day or two.

(Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Paul Tait)