Nepal government 'won't tolerate' Tibet protests
Updated
A Nepal government spokesman says it will not tolerate continued rallies by Tibetan activists; the United Nations has expressed deep concern over the arrest of almost 500 Tibetan protesters in the capital, Kathmandu.
Presenter: Liam Cochrane
Speakers: Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International; Eva Anderson, guest at a local monastery
COCHRANE: A rally held by Amnesty International in Kathmandu was over before it even began. Minutes before the expected starting time, police confiscating placards and detained the head of Amnesty's local chapter, along with three other senior human rights leaders.
The rally was to be held on a large traffic island in central Kathmandu, which in the scene of political rallies, protests and celebrations almost every day. But police had warned Amnesty they would not allow any program related to Tibet and moved quickly to end it.
Yolanda Foster is with the London chapter of Amnesty International.
FOSTER: I'm extremely surprised by what I've seen today, because Amnesty International has been holding peaceful demonstrations around the world with a human rights message about the situation in Tibet and didn't expect in a country such as Nepal there would be any infringement to the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
COCHRANE: Amnesty was calling for a special UN team to investigate the recent violence in Tibet and urged China to allow media access to the troubled regions. Amnesty was also rallying in support of the right for Tibetan exiles in Nepal to be able to freely gather and peacefully protest.
There are at least 20,000 Tibetan exiles and asylum seekers in Nepal. For the past two weeks they have had little support from Nepal's human rights community, which took credit for the people's movement in 2006 which ousted the king and kickstarted the peace process to end Nepal's civil war.
Several of Nepal's best known human rights leaders arrived at the Amnesty rally, but were quickly taken away by police.
Yolanda Foster says it's unclear why they were detained.
FOSTER: There was no reason given to them for why they've been taken away, again they've come to support a human rights a human rights message and a peaceful demonstration in an area which doesn't normally have any restrictions in holding these kinds of demonstrations.
COCHRANE: Around 100 Tibetans joined the event at the invitation of Amnesty, and despite the detention of key organizers, tried to hold their own sit down protest.
(SFX - chanting)
COCHRANE: But riot police soon broke up the peaceful rally.
(SFX - police disperse chanting monks / nuns)
COCHRANE: As has been the case for two weeks, police refused to explain why they were breaking up the protest or why they were detaining Tibetan demonstrators and Nepali human rights workers.
COCHRANE: Among the Tibetan protesters was a German woman, Eva Anderson, who has been staying at a local monastery and supports the Tibetan cause.
ANDERSON: And I came here for a peaceful demonstration, and we are sitting here showing signs for Tibet, we are not allowed to show signs so we just sit peacefully down and sing peace slogans. And then some people are very much upset and then they shout and they cry and the police feel attacked. So they are counterattacking people sitting here, and then they take the people to the police car and hit them.
COCHRANE: And from your impression, what's the feeling amongst the Tibetan community?
ANDERSON: Oh they are desperate, absolutely desperate. They nuns are praying very very hard and many of them don't dare to go for demonstration because they know the police are there and they would be hit and it goes out of control. So most of them are just sitting and praying and I think that's a good thing. But the world community should know about this, how hard they try.
COCHRANE: Earlier in the day, riot police used force to disperse a Tibetan rally near the United Nations headquarters in Kathmandu, taking away hundreds of protesters in vans and trucks.
Police punched and kicked protesters, and hit them with inch-thick bamboo sticks.
(SFX - screams / sirens)
COCHRANE: They also pushed and punched journalists trying to photograph the violence.
(SFX - angry shouting - "You do your work, I'll do my work.")
COCHRANE: The UN Office for Human Rights in Nepal expressed "deep concern" over the mass detentions in Kathmandu, saying the police actions violated the right to freedom of assembly and expression, as well the right to freedom from arbitrary detention.
Chief of UN's Human Rights Office, Richard Bennett, said the widespread arrests went against the spirit of a democratic society.
The UN said 475 people were detained in relation to Tibetan protests on Monday. In Nepal, people detained at protests are usually released in the evening, with no charges files.
The violence in Lhasa and elsewhere in Tibet has sparked protests around the world which threaten to taint the Beijing Olympics.
China has blocked foreign journalists and tourists from entering the Chinese-controlled Tibetan Autonomous Region and other surrounding provinces. Reports of a massive police and military clamp down have filtered out, but details remain sketchy.
Liam Cochrane for Radio Australia, Kathmandu.
