Tibetans in Nepal protest against China, Olympics

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA

Thursday, August 14, 2008

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese police clashed with Tibetan protesters and detained more than 500 of them Thursday while breaking up a demonstration in front of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Katmandu.

More than 1,000 Tibetan exiles had gathered outside the Chinese Embassy visa office in Katmandu shouting slogans against China and the Olympics.

They held banners that said "Shame on you IOC" and waved banners that said "Beijing 2008" with sketches of Chinese soldiers shooting at Tibetans.

Police had difficulty controlling the protesters but managed to take many of them away in trucks to detention centers. More than 500 were detained, police official Ramesh Thapa said.

The area around the visa office in the heart of Katmandu is declared a no-protest zone and demonstrations and gatherings are prohibited. Police said the protesters violated the prohibition orders.

Police briefly used bamboo batons to disperse the protesters. No one was seriously injured.

Tibetan exiles in both Nepal and India have been staging frequent protests to show their support for the unrest that erupted in Tibet's capital in March.

Arrested Tibetan protesters in Katmandu are generally freed the same day.

The March protests in Lhasa were among the biggest in almost 50 years of Chinese rule. Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.