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.
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