(TibetanReview.net, Mar11, 2014) – Police in Nepal detained up to 10 Tibetans on Mar 10 for staging or allegedly planning to stage protests against China on the 55th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in their homeland. Five youths, including three women, were held at Hattisar, near the Consular section of the Chinese embassy, in Kathmandu as they waved Tibet flags and chanted ´Free Tibet, we want justice´. Their protest lasted about five minutes, reported myrepublica.com Mar 10.
Police in Kathmandu also detained four Tibetans from Swoyambhunath area on suspicion that they were preparing to stage anti-Chinese activities.
“We have arrested nine Tibetans, four on suspicion of anti-China activity and five for carrying out anti-China demonstrations,” the AFP Mar 10 quoted police spokesman Ganesh KC as saying.
Also, police detained a Tibetan Refugee from the tourist town of Pokhara on Mar 10, said the myrepublica.com report without further details.
It was earlier reported by ekantipur.com Mar 10 that more than 1,000 police personnel had been deployed at specific locations in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu to prevent Tibetans from holding protests on the uprising day. “Any activities against neighbouring countries by refugees will not be tolerated,” it quoted Senior Superintendent of Police Ganesh KC, who is also the Nepal Police spokesman, as saying.
The report cited police as saying the deployment of personnel covered the entire Kathmandu valley with special surveillance being maintained in places such as Bouddha, Swoyambhu and Jawalakhel where Tibetan refugees live in relatively large numbers. The report indicated that the police would especially target holding of demonstrations, raising of Tibetan flags and holding of candlelight vigils to commemorate the day.
The report also cited Deputy Superintendent of Police Shyam Singh Chaudhary of the Police Circle, Boudha, as saying a start had been made to raid many guesthouses in the Boudha area. He has added that over 200 police personnel in plain clothes had been deployed in probable protest venues.
It was earlier reported Mar 5 that in order to prevent anti-China demonstrations on the streets before and during the anniversary, Tibetan refugee camps, Chinese Embassy, Consular Section, Swayambhu, Bouddha and Ekantakuna, among other places, were under surveillance. Nepal had 18 Tibetan refugee camps, seven of them in the Kathmandu Valley, added thehimalayantimes.com Mar 5 while reporting the preemptive strike. It also said plainclothes police had fanned out to gather intelligence about Tibetan exiles living in the valley.
Nepal says it has adopted Beijing’s ‘one-China’ policy in cracking down on any activity which might offend the government of China with which it has developed a particularly close strategic and economic relationship in recent years. China exerts strong pressure on Nepal to prevent what it calls ‘anti-China activities’ by the estimated 22,000-strong Tibetan refugee community in the country.