Police detain Tibetan attempting to storm Chinese embassy in New Delhi
8 Aug 2008, 1925 Hrs

Police detain hundreds of angry Tibetan refugees attempting to storm Chinese embassy in New Delhi

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New Delhi, August 8 (ANI): Police detain hundreds of angry Tibetan refugees attempting to storm Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

Police detained hundreds of angry Tibetan refugees attempting to storm Chinese embassy in New Delhi on Friday, coinciding their protest with the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Scores of Tibetans shouting anti-China slogans braved heavy rains to protest against the Olympics being staged by China.

The protests came as thousands of performers readied in Beijing for the opening of the Games at eight minutes past 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month-the number symbolising fortune-before an estimated global audience of one billion.

India has been a centre of regular Tibetan protests for months and exiles have even scaled the walls of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi at least twice since last August.

The protests first started on March 10, the Tibetan Uprising day in the year of Beijing Olympics.

China has accused followers of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, of stirring riots and protests in Tibetan region in March in a bid to upstage Olympic preparations. The Dalai Lama has denied the charge and said he does not oppose the Games.

The Dalai Lama has rejected accusations that he is behind the unrest and has supported the Chinese right to host the Olympics.

But groups campaigning for Tibetan independence have said they will use the Games to voice their demands and concerns over the alleged Chinese atrocities in Tibet.

China has controlled Tibet since People's Liberation Army troops marched into the region in 1950 and Beijing considers Tibet as an integral part of its territory.

Critics accuse China of repressing Tibetans' religious aspirations, especially their veneration for the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. (ANI)