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Tibetans continue march in defiance of Indian police ban

A group of Tibetan exiles planning to march to their homeland from northern India were back on the road yesterday despite a police ban on their trek.

The 100 activists began their walk on Monday as part of pro-independence protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics. They hope the march will highlight what they say are serious human rights violations in their Himalayan homeland.

The group had walked 20km from Dharamsala before local police served them with a restraining order sent by authorities in the Indian capital.

"We will continue on our homeland march despite the order that has been served on us," said B. Tsering, head of the Tibetan Women's Association, one of five organizations sponsoring the march, which includes men and women.

The activists said the restraining order warned their protest could "culminate in endangering public tranquility and breach of public peace."

"Tibetan refugees have the right to return to Tibet, the land from where we come," insisted Tsewang Rigzin, leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

The protest coincides with the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's escape from the Tibetan capital Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and comes with the Beijing Olympics five months away.

"This is the first major obstacle we are facing, but we remain committed to marching. We want to do nothing more than go back to our country and help end the suffering of our brothers and sisters living under brutal Chinese occupation," he said.

Bystanders cheered the group yesterday as they walked along the mountain roads and progressed approximately 11km. Police did not intervene.

District police chief Atul Phuljile said, however, that the marchers would be prevented from leaving his area.

"Unless we receive a fresh advisory and as long as they do not indulge in unlawful activity, they are free to roam around in this district," he said.

Buddhist monks staged two protests in the capital of Tibet this week in a bold, public challenge to China's rule, although a senior official said yesterday that no one was arrested.

Champa Phuntsok, an ethnic Tibetan who heads the Tibetan regional government, said authorities briefly detained monks from Drepung monastery outside Lhasa.

He said they were released shortly afterward after being questioned and "counseled."

"It's really nothing," he said in Beijing, where he was attending the annual legislative session. "Everything is really great."
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