Tibtetans Protests Continue in India

In India, Tibetans have been holding a series of protests in New Delhi and the northern city of Dharmsala, the headquarters of Tibet's government-in-exile.

Around thirty women protestors from the Free Tibet organization tried storming into the Chinese Embassy in Delhi on Friday but were stopped by the police.

Even in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, protestors set shops on fire and eye-witnesses say there were reports that police cars and fire engines were set ablaze near the world-renown Jokhang Temple.

Protesters arrested in India

A group of 100 Tibetans who began a march from Dharamsala to Tibet on Thursday were arrested by the Indian police

Kunchuk Yangpe, the secretary of the Tibetan Youth Congress said more protestors would set off despite the arrests:

"Tibetan marchers from Dharmasala to Lhasa in Tibet was stopped for the third day. But we in India and all over the world are planning another mass movement. And in the coming days we will start another march. Indian police stopped Tibetan marchers because China’s government has pressurized the Indian government."

As the Olympics approach, Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest.

Peaceful refuge

Lobsang Jhimpe a coordinator for Friends of Tibet organized a unique march in Delhi with protestors swathed in bloody bandages:

"What we want to show from the torch as well as people wearing the bandages is that the IOC has done a great injustice giving permission and the right to China to hold the Olympics. So according to us Tibetans, we think China has committed a huge blunder, human rights abuses and it has occupied our motherland, Tibet."

India has been a peaceful refuge for the Dalai Lama and tens of thousands of exiled Tibetans for almost half a century. With marchers seemingly intent on making the journey in spite of the ban, the protests are bound to continue in the coming weeks and months.