Tibetan exiles vow to press on with march home

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Hundreds of Tibetan exiles vowed Thursday to press on with a trek home ahead of the Beijing Olympics despite Indian police detaining some of their leaders this week.

The marchers, who left the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala on March 10, were now less than 200 kilometres from the Tibetan border, said Pema Dorjee, one of the 300 exiles making up the group. (more…)

Tibetans say India choking food to stop China march

Washington Post
By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A group of Tibetan exiles marching towards China said on Thursday that Indian police had impounded their food trucks and arrested their leaders to break up a protest walk that began almost three months ago.

Tibetan exiles, now numbering about 300, began walking on March 10 from the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, the seat of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, to join in protests against Chinese rule inside Tibet. (more…)

Press Release: Tibetan Leaders Still Detained, Food Shortage Imminent

For Immediate Release
May 29, 2008

Contact: Tenzin Choedon (English, Tibetan, Hindi): +91 975 696 9133
Pema Dorjee (English): +91 992 760 6204

TIBETAN MARCHERS DETERMINED TO CONTINUE DESPITE MASSIVE POLICE PRESENCE
Tibetan Leaders Still Detained, Food Shortage Imminent as Supply Trucks Confiscated

Nainital - Tibetan marchers are determined to continue their March to Tibet despite a massive Indian police build-up blockading their planned route just 200 kilometers from the Indo-Tibetan border in Uttaranchal State. The police have obstructed the marchers’ movement to and from their campsite 80 km from Almora, and on Tuesday authorities forcibly removed three utility trucks. Early this morning, authorities confiscated the fourth and last supply truck, raising fears of an imminent food shortage. (more…)

Photos from Banspatan

On May 27, an estimated force of 1000 police blocked the entrance to the marchers’ current camp at Banspatan. Police ordered the marchers to turn back or risk being arrested. In response, the marchers immediately crossed a dry riverbed, and staged a Gandhian style sit-in – chanting prayers and singing the Tibetan national anthem. The stalemate lasted for an hour before the police retreated and eventually left the campsite. The same scenario occurred again on May 28.

India arrests “Return March” Tibetan leaders

AsiaNews

Mumbai - The presidents of the five NGOs leading the Tibetan exiles’ “Return March to Tibet” were arrested yesterday morning in Berinath, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. Tsewang Rigzin (Tibetan Youth Congress), B Tsering (Tibetan Women’s Association), Ngawang Woebar (GuChuSum or former Tibetan political prisoners’ movement), Chime Youngdrung (National Democratic Party of Tibet,) and Tenzin Choeying (Students for a Free Tibet) were still detained by Indian police as of yesterday afternoon.

The five leaders were supposed to meet the District Magistrate of Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) to appeal for a permit to continue the march. (more…)