30 Tibetans detained for protesting Wen’s visit

NEW DELHI - About 30 Tibetans were detained by the police Thursday in two separate incidents in the capital as they were protesting against Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to the country.

At least 26 Tibetans, students of Delhi University, were detained outside the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA) where Wen was speaking, Tibetan Youth Congress president Tsewang Rigzin told IANS.

“The activists were protesting outside the building and we restricted them from entering the premises they were detained and taken to Tilak Marg police station,” a police official said.

Wen is in India on a three-day visit and was at ICWA’s Sapru House Thursday addressing a gathering on India-China relations.

In another incident, four protesters were detained outside Hyderabad House where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Premier Wen were holding talks.

All the protesters have been detained at the Tilak Marg police station in New Delhi.

Earlier in the morning, around 500 Tibetans participated in a protest march from Khan Market to the United Nations Information Centre.

“The 500-strong crowd shouted slogans against Wen and China during the four-hour long march and carried hand-written placards and waved yellow-red-blue Tibetan flags,” Phuntsok, a protestor, told IANS.

India is home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and about 100,000 Tibetan exiles. Many of them fled to India with the Dalai Lama in 1959 after the failure of an anti-Communist uprising.

The Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile is based in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. It is not recognised by any country.