DHARMSALA, India (AP) -- Indian police barred several hundred Tibetan exiles from starting a march to Tibet on Monday to protest Beijing hosting this summer's Olympic Games, as Tibetans marked their uprising against Chinese rule.
Tibetan activists wear Olympic rings and bloody makeup at a demonstration in New Delhi.
Other demonstrations were held in New Delhi and Katmandu, Nepal, where 10 activists were detained after hundreds clashed with police.
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, speaking at a separate event, accused China of "unimaginable and gross violations of human rights" in the Himalayan region.
The planned six-month march from India to Tibet began Monday to coincide with the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet that forced the Dalai Lama into exile in 1959.
Local police chief Atul Fulzele said an order banning the marchers from leaving the area near the northern Indian city of Dharmsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, had been issued following a recommendation from the Indian government.
India, which has been sympathetic to the Tibetan exiles in the past, has clamped down on such protests in recent years, fearing they could embarrass Beijing and damage burgeoning ties between the Asian giants.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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