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400 held after Tibet protests
24/03/2008 18:23 - (SA)
Kathmandu - About 400 people, most of them Tibetans, were detained in Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Monday at three separate rallies against Chinese rule of Tibet, police said.
"We have 245 Tibetans currently in detention from protests this morning in front of the United Nations," senior police officer Sharad Karki told AFP.
Kathmandu's police chief Sarbendra Khanal said another 141 Tibetans and 14 Nepalese human rights activists were detained at two other separate protests later Monday.
"We will release all those we have detained by this evening," Khanal told AFP.
Police baton-charged a crowd of about 500 Tibetan protesters early Monday outside a UN office, an AFP reporter at the scene said, adding that a few demonstrators appeared to have sustained injuries.
"We will continue our protests. Chinese should not be allowed to kill Tibetans," Kesang Dolkar, 38, told AFP before being taken away in a police van.
Protests have been held nearly every day in Kathmandu since unrest erupted on March 14 in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, prompting a crackdown by security forces.
The UN human rights body said it was deeply concerned about the arrests.
"These actions by police violate individuals' basic rights to freedom from arbitrary detention and freedom of movement," the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said.
The prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India told AFP on Monday that about 130 people have been confirmed killed in the crackdown in Tibet.
China said on Saturday that 18 "innocent" civilians and one police officer were killed in the rioting in Lhasa, raising its official death toll from 13.
Nepal officially recognises the "One China" policy that says Tibet, overrun by Chinese troops in 1951, and self-ruled Taiwan are indivisible parts of the country.
About 20 000 Tibetan refugees have lived in Nepal since the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese.
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