India Crushes Tibetan March

Police bust exiles trying to march back home
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 13, 2008 6:25 AM CDT
India Crushes Tibetan March
The marchers sat down on the road and chanted Buddhist prayers when the police moved in.    (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

Indian police stopped a group of Tibetan exiles marching back to their homeland after just 30 miles, reports the BBC. The activists set off Monday from Dharamsala, the seat of the exiled Tibetan government, heading for the Chinese border on the 49th anniversary of a failed Tibetan coup to throw off Chinese rule. "Indian police blocked the march and forcibly removed all marchers from the road," said one protester. More than 100 arrests were made.

The exiles say they have the right to return to Tibet and they want to expose human rights violations by the Chinese, but the Indian government is said to be worried about offending Beijing. "Our cause is just and our actions are non-violent," said one of the march leaders moments before police carried him away. The arrested exiles have now gone on a hunger strike, AP reports. (More Tibet stories.)

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