Thaindian News

Kathmandu, July 14 (IANS) At least 15 Tibetans, including three women, were arrested by Nepal police Tuesday for staging an anti-China protest in front of the UN headquarters in the Kathmandu valley.
Fresh protests have erupted since last month after a lull of several months when the previous Maoist government of Nepal ordered sterner measures against anti-China protesters.

Tuesday’s protests, asking for the UN to act in the China-controlled Tibet Autonomous Region, where there was “gross violations of human rights” by the Chinese authorities, and seeking a “Free Tibet” were organised by volunteers of the Tibetan Youth Age Network.

Despite the new government banning anti-China protests, the diaspora has pledged to keep up public demonstrations, especially on the 14th day of each month in memory of the violent crackdown in Tibet on March 14, 2008.

Tuesday’s protests caught the government off-guard. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal had just left the country to attend the 15th Non-Aligned Movement summit in Egypt starting from Wednesday.

Beijing, already grappling with ethnic riots in its Xinjiang autonomous province, will be alarmed by the eruption of fresh protests in Nepal.

The Chinese government is also angered by the US Congress advancing legislation that provides millions of dollars for Tibet programmes.

The State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for Fiscal 2010 will help Tibetan refugees sustain their unique identity by revitalizing half century-old settlements in South Asia.

Programmes funded in the bill include $2.5 million humanitarian assistance for Tibetan refugees, $2.3 million new funding to modernize Tibetan refugee settlements in India and Nepal through organic agriculture and workforce development, and $1.4 million for Tibetan exchange and scholarship programmes.

The bill also funds the office of the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues at the State Department, and provides full funding for Tibetan broadcasting by Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America.