Chinese Shame of Olympic Game Spread into India -- Indian police detain
Tibetan exiles marching in protest
International Herald Tribune
Indian police detain Tibetan exiles marching in protest
http://img.iht.com/images/2008/03/13/13tibet-detain550.jpg
Tibetan exiles in northern India who began a six-month march this week
to protest China's control of their homeland were arrested Thursday and
went on a hunger strike they say will continue until they are released.
(Ashwini Bhatia/The Associated Press)
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 13, 2008
DEHRA, India: Police detained more than 100 Tibetan exiles as they
marched to their homeland Thursday in protest of China's hosting of the
Olympic Games, charging them with threatening the "peace and
tranquility" of the region, officials said.
The protesters began a hunger strike within hours of being arrested,
Tenzin Palkyi, a march coordinator, told The Associated Press.
The protesters shouted "Free Tibet!" and other slogans as they were
being detained, but there was no violence, witnesses said. Senior police
official Atul Fulzele said the protesters had been charged with
threatening the region's "peace and tranquility."
But organizers vowed to continue the march.
"We will have to find a way," said Tenzin Palkyi, one of the march
coordinators. "Our legal team will deal with the police."
Indian officials fear the march could embarrass Beijing and banned the
exiles from leaving the Kangra district that surrounds the northern
Indian city of Dharmsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan
government-in-exile.
The march began Monday, the day Tibetans commemorated their 1959
uprising against China. Demonstrations took place around the world,
including a protest by 300 Buddhist monks in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa,
one of the boldest public challenges to China's rule in recent years.
Shortly after the protesters set off early Thursday morning, police
stopped the march in the town of Dehra, about 12 miles from the district
boundary, and forced about 130 protesters into buses.
Police said the Thursday protesters would be taken to court within 24
hours. In the past, protesters charged with the offense have been
released after formally pledging not to carry on demonstrating.
Nine foreigners who were marching with the Tibetans but were not
arrested began a hunger strike of their own outside the building where
the Tibetans were being held. The foreigners hail from the United
States, Scotland, Germany, Poland and Australia.
Protests in Lhasa this week are believed to be the largest in the city
since Beijing crushed a wave of pro-independence demonstrations in 1989.
Since then, China has pumped investment into the region, vilified the
Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and tried to weed
out his sup****ters among the influential Buddhist clergy moves that
have alienated some Tibetans.
The U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia and an overseas Tibetan Web
site, phayul.com, re****ted as many as 71 people, mostly monks, were
detained after those protests.
However, Tibet's chief administrator, Champa Phunstok, said authorities
defused the incidents without arrests.
Asked about the protests, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said,
"Some ignorant monks in Lhasa abetted by a small handful of people did
some illegal things that can challenge the social stability."
He said the monks were dealt with "according to the law," but gave no
details.
Beijing maintains that Tibet is historically part of China, but many
Tibetans argue the Himalayan region was virtually independent for
centuries and accuse China of trying to crush Tibetan culture by
swamping it with Han people, the majority Chinese ethnic group.
___
Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to
this re****t.
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