Tibetan exiles protest outside UN office in Kathmandu

Kathmandu - More than 200 Tibetan exiles living in Nepal Friday took part in a demonstration outside the United Nations office as part of their campaign against recent violence in their homeland. The refugees, including Tibetan women, monks and nuns, started their protest march from a refugee centre on the southern outskirts of the capital Kathmandu and made their way to the UN offices, some two kilometres away. The Nepalese police stationed outside the UN office buildings made only token gestures to stop the Tibetans and there were no arrests. Many protestors carried white roses symbolising peace and chanted pro-Tibetan independence slogans. 'Our marchers were able to reach up to the walls of the UN office and threw the flowers over the walls into the compound,' UN refugee coordination groups said. 'Although Nepalese police tried to stop us from marching towards the building, they did not use force as in previous instances,' the group said. The march was the latest in a series of protests by the Tibetan exiles in Nepal which have often been broken up by the Nepalese police using force. The UN office, the Chinese embassy and its consular section have been at the centre of Tibetan protests. Nepal has more than 20,000 Tibetans concentrated mainly in the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara in western Nepal. The figure does not include Tibetans who arrived in the country after 1990 because the Nepalese government stopped registering them as refugees. Estimates said about 3,000 Tibetans arrive in Nepal each year crossing dangerous mountain passes and risking their lives to flee Chinese rule. The Nepalese government has repeatedly said it considers Tibet to be part of China and will not tolerate anti-Chinese activities. International human rights agencies have criticised Nepal for its handling of the protests.