Tibetan exiles in Nepal clashed with local police when the police tried to take down a picture of the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as well as a banner accusing China of violating their rights in Tibet, a Taiwanese witness said.
The clash happened during a memorial service at a Tibetan settlement in Nepal for Tibetans who have immolated themselves.
“At around 10am today [Tuesday], Tibetan exiles held a memorial service at Jawalakhel Settlement on the outskirts of Kathmandu.
“As they were hanging up a giant picture of the Dalai Lama and a banner accusing China, a large number of police officers rushed towards them and took the picture and banner away,” a Taiwanese academic currently in Nepal — who wished to remain anonymous — told the Taipei Times via e-mail.
“Police officers actually surrounded the venue for the religious service and blocked the entrance before the service started, but only acted after seeing the picture and the banner,” the academic said.
The academic added that police officers apparently stepped on the picture of the Tibetan spiritual leader and thus angered the Tibetans on the scene.
“The angry Tibetans then rushed into the streets to protest, whereupon the police immediately began to arrest the protesters,” the academic said.
“Many of the protestors were beaten by the police — some were hit with rifle butts — and many people were injured as they were arrested,” the academic added.
Some elderly Tibetans and women decided to stage a sit-in at a nearby park, but they were also arrested, the academic said.
The police threatened to confiscate the video camera that the scholar had in hand as the academic tried to record the scene.
“A young Italian tourist staying in the same building came out and tried to take pictures, but was told to stop and chased down the street by police,” the academic said.
“The Italian tourist told me that he never thought the situation was so bad for Tibetan exiles in Nepal and that he also was frightened by the police brutality even though he was just a tourist,” the academic added.
Local Tibetans told the academic that about 60 people were arrested and that they started a hunger strike while in detention before being released later on Tuesday night.
Tibetans yesterday delivered petition letters to the embassies of G20 countries in Kathmandu.
However, Nepalese police broke into the houses of Tibetan exiles and arrested about 20 young Tibetans, the academic said, adding that it was not clear whether the arrests had anything to do with the protest on Tuesday or the delivery of the petition letters.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS