KATHMANDU: Nepalese police arrested 11 people in Kathmandu on suspicion of “anti-China activities” yesterday morning, the anniversary of the 1959 rebellion against China’s rule in Tibet.
“Some of the people we arrested were Tibetan but we have not interrogated all of them yet,” police spokesman Uttam Subedi told AFP.
Nepal, home to around 20,000 Tibetans, is under intense pressure from Beijing over the exiles, and has repeatedly said it will not tolerate what it calls “anti-China activities”. On February 13, a Tibetan monk doused himself in petrol in a Kathmandu restaurant and set himself on fire, becoming the 100th self-immolation bid in a wave of protests against Chinese rule since 2009. The gruesome burnings, most of which have occurred in Tibetan-inhabited areas of China, are seen as a sign of desperation in the community over perceived religious persecution in Chinese-ruled Tibet. In the lead-up to yesterday’s 54th anniversary of the Tibet uprising, the Nepal government re-exerted its security efforts. AFP
