By AIJAZ HUSSAIN,Associated Press Writer
Sunday, April 6
SRINAGAR, India – Indian police arrested 17 Tibetan exiles Saturday as they attempted to march from a remote Himalayan region in northern India into Tibet, officials said.
The group was arrested in Ladakh, an area that borders Tibet and is home to about 7,000 Tibetan exiles, said M.K. Bhandari, a senior local official.
The group was arrested for violating a law that prohibits entry into sensitive border areas, Bhandari said.
The arrests came amid reports of ongoing unrest in China’s Tibetan areas.
Police fired on hundreds of protesters in a Tibetan area of western China, killing eight people, overseas activist groups said. State media reported one government official was seriously injured in what it called a riot.
Anti-China demonstrations broke out last month in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and neighboring provinces in what has become the longest and most sustained challenge to China’s rule in the Himalayan region in decades.
China’s subsequent crackdown has drawn international scrutiny and criticism in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August.
In recent weeks, India, home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, has allowed Tibetans to protest peacefully, but Indian authorities have said they would not tolerate actions that embarrassed China.
Last month, they arrested a group of dozens who planned to march from India to Tibet.
