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.
EXCUSES: Beijing is using government and research vessels as a pretext to harass the nation and enter its EEZ, and engage in ‘hegemonic expansion,’ the coast guard said The Coast Guard Administration yesterday said it drove away Chinese oceanographic research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 22 (向陽紅33) from restricted waters after warning it that it was in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Chinese vessel entered restricted waters off the coast of Yilan County’s Suao (蘇澳) at 11:35pm on Thursday, the coast guard said, adding that it dispatched the Lanyu patrol vessel and the boat PP-10077 to shadow the Chinese ship and issue radio warnings ordering it to leave. China has no sovereignty over waters off Taiwan’s east coast, Lanyu’s crew told Xiang Yang Hong 22 over the radio, and demanded
BAIT AND SWITCH: Allowing KMT-run counties to sell to China while the threat of abrupt cancelations hangs overhead is another form of coercion, officials said Beijing is using agricultural purchase offers announced during the Straits Forum to deepen Taiwan’s dependence on the Chinese market, a Taiwanese official said yesterday as they criticized the Taitung County commissioner’s participation in the initiative. During the Straits Forum held in Xiamen on Saturday, Chinese officials announced a sales and purchase agreement for agricultural products from some counties led by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT). Taitung County Commissioner Yao Ching-ling (饒慶鈴), who was barred from attending the event in person by the Mainland Affairs Council, participated via video. Under the agreement, China would purchase atemoyas, pomeloes, tea and grouper harvested in Taitung,
Tropical Storm Mekkhala is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon tomorrow and could come close enough to Taiwan later in the week to prompt a sea warning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2 pm, the storm was located 1,870 kilometers southeast of Taiwan's southern tip and moving west- northwest at 23 km per hour. CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said Mekkhala is expected to continue moving west-northwest through Tuesday under the influence of the Pacific high- pressure system before gradually turning north toward waters east of Taiwan or south of the Ryukyu Islands. The timing and angle of the
Four Taiwanese universities have been ranked among the world's top 200 institutions in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings for next year, the highest Taiwan has ever placed in the category, with National Taiwan University (NTU) achieving its best performance at 54th globally and 17th in Asia. The four Taiwanese institutions in the global top 200 are NTU (54th), National Tsing Hua University (142nd), National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (177th) and National Cheng Kung University (191st), the rankings showed. All four universities achieved their highest-ever global rankings this year, QS data showed. National Cheng Kung University entered the top 200 for
RSS