Nepal: 139 Tibetans arrested after protest at UN House

Phayul[Monday, April 21, 2008 20:02]

By Tenzin Choephel

Phayul Correspondent

Kathmandu, April 21: Over 200 Tibetan volunteers staged a peaceful demonstration at the UN House in Pulchowk, Kathmandu this afternoon to request UN’s intervention in alleviating the alleged mal-treatment of Tibetans by Chinese Communist authorities inside Tibet. Tibetans were able to protest for about 30 minutes before they were arrested.

About 139 people were arrested and are now detained at Metropolitan Police Range Lalitpur, Jwalakhel. During the arrest, two women protesters sustained injuries.

The protest started at around 2:20 PM when over 200 Tibetans arrived near the UN House intersection. The protesters tried to push towards the UN House’s main gate but Police stopped and cornered them at the intersection, and started arresting them. As usual, protesters resisting arrest were lathi-charged, kicked and punched.

Many, including women, were dragged and shoved into Police vehicles. Among the protesters was a 13-year old Tibetan boy also.

At the time of filing this story, those arrested Tibetans were still held under detention.

Human Rights Watch on Sunday urged the Government of Nepal to stop illegal detention of Tibetans and to respect their right to peaceful expression and assembly. The rights group noted that the police arrested over 2500 Tibetan protestors in the past five weeks.

“The government cannot be selective about who in Nepal is entitled to such basic rights - Tibetans there are entitled to peaceful expression and assembly too,” Sophie Richardson, HRW’s Asia advocacy director, said in a statement.

Tibetan protestors have been regularly demonstrating in Kathmandu since March 10, the 49th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising day.