57. Tibetan activists protest China's crackdown

The Statesman, India 2005-12-07

Some Tibetan activists Dec 6 forced their way into the Chinese embassy here to protest against China's crackdown on the Dalai Lama's followers in Tibet. Police and embassy security staff dragged out the protesters, who for a brief while shouted slogans like "Free Tibet" and waved banners. Delhi Police detained about 35 activists and later arrested five of them for illegally assembling near the embassy. "About 35 Tibetans, including seven women, had assembled illegally near the Chinese embassy and were creating a law and order problem by scaling the walls of the embassy and throwing pamphlets inside. They had tied themselves to tre es to stop us from detaining them," a senior police officer said. Witnesses said the activists were shouting slogans outside the embassy, when eight of them climbed over a side gate and entered the compound taking the security guards by surprise. They then unfurled a yellow banner that said: "Stop patriotic re-education in monasteries in Tibet." It was a reference to the recent crackdown on monks in Drepung monastery, Tibet's largest monastery, by Chinese authorities.