LUCKNOW, India — Authorities in northern India have again stopped a protest march by more than 300 Tibetan exiles heading for their homeland.
The demonstrators, including Buddhist monks and nuns carrying pictures of the Dalai Lama and "Free Tibet" banners, want their arrival to coincide with this summer's Beijing Olympics Games.
The marchers began their journey March 10 in the Indian city of Dharmsala, headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Indian police detained a group of the marchers for two weeks, but the protesters restarted their walk March 15 and were allowed to proceed.
Now they have been stopped again and authorities in Uttarakhand state say they are trying to convince them to return to Dharmsala.
Authorities in India fear the protest march would embarrass China, with whom New Delhi is trying to improve economic ties despite a lingering border dispute.
Tenzin Choedon, a spokeswoman for Students for a Free Tibet, one of the groups organizing the march, said the protesters are determined to continue their walk to Tibet.
"They are determined to carry on with this non-violent direct action," Choedon told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Nainital, one of the main towns of Uttarakhand.
India has generally allowed the Tibetan exiles to protest peacefully, but as anti-China protests gathered momentum before the Beijing Olympics, the government has said that it would not tolerate actions that embarrassed China.
India is home to the world's largest Tibetan exile community, with more than 100,000 exiles.
Protest march by Tibetan exiles stopped in northern India
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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1 comments:
Oh I wish I was Tibetan
Not a Han or Manchu
I’d say, “Now stop your frettin’”
I’d say, “Dalai Lama who?”
I’d move like Michael Jackson
Yeah, I’d do a moon walk.
I’d look around for action
And I’d shake a big rock
I’d watch the flatlands tremble
Man, I’d see them all shake
I’d watch the buildings crumble
As the rain fills up the lake
I’d watch the water swirl
See the people run amuck
I’d say, “That’s not my world.”
But I’d wish them all good luck.
If I was a Tibetan
Not a Han or Manchu
I’d watch the sun a’settin’
And I’d leave the rest to you.
http://playwrighter.blogspot.com/
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