By Tenzin Choephel
Phayul Correspondent
Kathmandu, May 13 – Cold-shouldering Chinese Ambassador Zheng Xialing’s serious dissatisfaction over the handling of Tibetan protests by Nepal at a program yesterday, over 300 Tibetans rallied in front of the Chinese Consulate again this afternoon. Many of the protestors bared their chests painted with the Tibetan flag and had scrawled slogans demanding resolution to the Tibet crisis.
This is the sixth consecutive day of protest by Tibetans at the Chinese Consulate in Hattisar, Kathmandu since it revival May 8. The activists have managed to do something different every protest, like chaining themselves to each other to prolong arrest or men and monks baring their chests with messages scrawled on them. They also brought two dummy corpses and a man was bandaged as a manifestation of the current situation in Tibet.
Protestors came in about five buses from either direction of the Consulate between time gaps and were able to stage the protest that lasted for about an hour. They were repeating some of the same slogans including ‘Stop killing in Tibet’, ‘Long live the Dalai Lama’, ‘We demand human rights’ and ‘Free Tibet’. Police as usual had to kick, punch, drag and shove many protestors into vehicles for resisting arrest.
A total of 280 Tibetan protestors were arrested with 34 held at Kamal Pokhari Police station, 16 at Anam Nagar Police Station and another 180 at Metropolitan Police Barrack No. 2. All the detainees were released around 9 pm.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nepal has also urged the Government of Nepal to adopt strict measures to curb the separatist activities of Tibetans even though some of the local Tibetan leaders have repeatedly told Phayul that they are not seeking independence for Tibet but instead are calling for a resolution and an end to the current crisis. He also ridiculously accused the UN for sending staff at every Tibetan protest while it is the duty of OHCHR to observe all the demonstrations and report the facts to the concerned UN body.
On Monday, about 100 Tibetans protested in front of the Chinese Consulate in Hattisar and 60 were arrested and detained at Metropolitan Police Barrack No. 2. They were later released around 8 pm the same day.
The same day, around 40 nuns from the Kopan Monastery who had completed a 24 hour fasting at the ongoing ‘Relay Fasting’ in Swayambhu (that began April 13) were returning before being stopped by the police who then imposed a restriction on their movement until about 4 pm.
