Kathmandu - Nepalese police Thursday arrested more than 200
Tibetan exiles demonstrating in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu even
as China thanked Nepal for its efforts to stop possible activities on
Mount Everest aimed at disrupting Olympic torch.
Police said they arrested the Tibetan demonstrators after they
tried to storm a Chinese embassy visa office as part of their growing
protests in Nepal.
Tibetan exiles, including dozens of monks and nuns, ran through
the police lines and kicked the gates of the visa office in an
attempt to storm it.
Police punched and kicked the demonstrators as they were loaded
onto police vans and trucks, witnesses said.
Many protestors carried Tibetan national flag as well as placards
denouncing Chinese rule in Tibet.
The anti-China protest by Tibetan exiles was the first in more
than a week in Kathmandu.
The protests first began on 10 March and until last week, they
were held on an almost daily basis.
Human rights organizations have criticized the Nepalese government
for use of force to break up demonstrations.
They have also accused the Nepalese government of threatening to
deport refugees involved in the demonstration back to Tibet.
Meanwhile, media reports in Kathmandu said Chinese government had
thanked Nepal for its cooperation in ensuring smooth transportation
of Olympic torch to the summit of the world's highest peak Mt
Everest.
Independent Kantipur Television quoted officials at the prime
minister's office as saying the appreciation was conveyed in a letter
from the Chinese Wen Jiabao to his Nepalese counterpart Girija Prasad
Koirala.
The letter said Nepal's efforts to stop anti-Chinese
demonstrations and ensure safe passage of the torch on Mt Everest
would further consolidate ties between the two countries.
Nepal had banned climbers from attempting to climb the peak for
the first 10 days of May coinciding with the Chinese plans to take
the Olympic torch to the summit of the 8,848 metre high peak.
To implement the ban, Nepal deployed two dozen soldiers and police
on Camp 2 of the mountain located at nearly 6,500 metres above sea
level as well as additional troops at the base camp nearly 1500
metres below.
The Nepalese government was expected to officially announce the
lifting of the ban on the climbing from Friday.
It followed the Chinese announced that the torch had reached the
summit.
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