Police break up Tibetan protest in Nepal's capital, arresting at least 20

The Canadian Press
March 15, 2008

Exiled Tibetan activists during a march which resumed from Dera which is about 50 Kms. from Dharamshala, India on 15, March, 2008. The activists appealed for the release of their fellow marchers who were detained by the police during their march from Dera towards Tibet on 13 March 2008. A group of Tibetan refugees on a protest march to Tibet from India were stopped by the Indian police on 13 March. The Tibetan refugees set off on the march on Monday from the northern hill town of Dharamshala across India to their homeland as part of protests leading up to the Beijing Olympics. The organisers of the 'peace march' said that they want to use the occasion of the build-up to the Beijing Olympics to draw attention to the oppression in Tibet under Chinese rule. EPA/STR

KATHMANDU, Nepal — Police have broken up a protest by 200 Tibetans in the Nepalese capital, beating them with bamboo batons and arresting at least 20 of them.

The Tibetans, holding banners reading "Free Tibet. Stop the killings in Tibet," were demonstrating Saturday in front of the United Nations' office in Kathmandu.

Nepalese police charged the crowd with batons and made arrests.

Police say they had orders to clear the streets in front of the United Nations office.

Forty-nine-year-old protester Tshering Ladum says she was only praying and demonstrating peacefully to seek support for the people in Tibet, and was attacked by police without any reason.

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