Police foil self-immolation bid by protesting Tibetan

MUMBAI: Chinese president Hu Jintao’s Mumbai visit was marred by noisy protests by Tibetan activists, one of whom even tried to set himself ablaze.

The protester — who identified himself as Lhakpa — in the process sustained burns on his legs. He was among a dozen-odd Tibetans demonstrating outside the hotel where the president was putting up. Some of them wore T-shirts which blurted out ‘China, Get Out of Tibet’ and ‘Chinese — Cheap Quality, Cheap Friends’.

They were all later whisked away by the police. For the past few days, exiled Tibetans living in India have been holding demonstrations in New Delhi and other cities across the country against what they term China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.

Three of the demonstrators were detained by the police near Marine Drive flyover, minutes before Hu’s cavalcade was scheduled to pass, a senior police official said. “They could have attempted suicide by jumping from the Marine Drive flyover and we detained them,” the officer said.

On Thursday, some 200 Tibetans began a day-long hunger strike at Azad Maidan to protest against Hu’s visit to India. “Hu Jintao, as head of Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1989, imposed martial law in Tibet and ordered violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, killing thousands of innocent Tibetans,” Phuntok, a member of the agitating group, said.

The demonstration has been organised by the Tibetan Sweater Sellers Union of Maharashtra and Gujarat, and Friends of Tibet organisations. The protesters were seen chanting slogans ‘Free Tibet’ and ‘End oppression in Tibet’.

“Hu is world’s leading autocrat and leads the regime responsible for genocide of over 75m people. Since China’s illegal and forcible occupation of Tibet in 1950, over 1.3m Tibetans have been massacred,” Phuntok added.

“The cold-blooded killing of Tibetan refugees fleeing Tibet at Nangpa Pass on the Tibet-Nepal border by Chinese security forces is an indicator of the appalling human rights situation in Tibet.”

India recognises Tibet as part of China, but gives asylum to close to 1,20,000 Tibetans including the Tibetan government-in-exile and Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, based in Dharamsala.