Tibetans Arrested en Route to Torch Protest

ANCHOR:
Over the weekend, the Olympic torch relay reached the Tibetan capital Lhasa. And appearance was everything has officials from the Chinese communist party locked down the city to prevent protests and hand-picked locals to cheer as the torch passed by. Meanwhile, in India, a group of Tibetans-in-exile were arrested on their way to protest the torch in their homeland. We join them now at a prison in northern India.

STORY:
It's the right idea, but the wrong place. These Tibetans-in-exile planned to stage a peaceful protest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, but only the first half of their plan worked.

[Namgyal, Imprisoned Tibetan Youth]:
"We were taking out a peace march from India to Tibet. We were doing it against the human rights violation in Tibet. We wanted to reach Rekong Peo and then back to our homeland but the local police at Rampur arrested us."

After being arrested en route to the Indo-Tibet border, they're now protesting inside the prison-where they'll be for the next three days.

[Haribhagat, Police Officer]:
"They were going to the Tibet border to protest against the Olympic torch relay through Tibet. They were stopped according to the orders received from senior officers. They did not have permission, so they were arrested and
will be sent back only on the orders of the officers."

21 other Tibetans have been arrested in a similar incident. They're also set to be released on Thursday (June 26).

Police Authorities at Kinnaur district refused to comment on the timing of the arrests, or whether the arrests were politically motivated. But the identical decisions to release both groups on Thursday suggests there may have been communication between police officials.

Tibetans all over the world protested during the olympic torch relay against human rights violations in Tibet. And the Dalai Lama continues to press world leaders to urge China to resolve the Tibet issue.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• tibet
• india
• torch
• protest
• olympic
• lhasa
• china
• beijing
• exile