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Nepal police arrest Tibetans on China's 60th anniversary

AFP

Nepalese police arrest a Tibetan activist during an anti-China demonstration in Kathmandu, Nepal, 1 October 2009. Dozens of Tibetan exiles were arrested as they tried to hold demonstrations on the 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China, police and witnesses said.AFP/Prakash Mathema/Nepal

Dozens of Tibetan exiles were arrested in Nepal on Thursday as they tried to hold demonstrations on the 60th anniversary of Communist rule in China, police and witnesses said.

Baton-wielding riot police detained 40 Tibetan protesters outside a Chinese embassy building in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.

The protesters waved Tibetan flags and shouted slogans including “No human rights in Tibet” and “We want a free Tibet” before they were dragged away and put into police vans.

Police said they had also arrested 38 Tibetan exiles on Thursday morning in Kathmandu after receiving reports that they intended to gather for anti-China protests.

“They will be released after the necessary investigations,” sub-inspector Chabiraman Bhattarai told AFP.

The arrests came as China celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a military parade and lavish ceremonies on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans who began arriving in large numbers in 1959 when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising.

Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal has supported Beijing’s “One China” policy that views Tibet as an integral part of China.

The government in Kathmandu has come under increasing pressure from Beijing to suppress anti-China activity on its soil, and activists say it has responded by adopting a harder line against the exiles.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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