Brussels: Hundreds joined a demonstration in Brussels today against China's deadly crackdown on pro-independence protesters in Tibet, calling on Western countries to boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing.

The crowd of an estimated 300 demonstrators gathered early morning today in front of the courthouse in the Belgian capital, carrying Tibetan flags and brandishing signs saying "Stop the killing in Tibet" and "China respect human rights", an AFP photographer at the scene reported.

Speakers at the rally urged a boycott of the Olympics Games to be held in August in the Chinese capital. "A country which does not respect human rights should not organise the Games," one of the speakers said.

However, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, while calling for an international inquiry into the deadly riots and condemning China's "reign of terror," said Sunday he was opposed to any boycott of the Olympic Games.

In Tibet the worst reported violence occurred on Friday, when Tibetans rampaged through the regional capital Lhasa, destroying Chinese businesses and torching police cars.

Tibetan rights groups said the protests, which marked the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising, were an outpouring of frustration at decades of brutal Chinese rule.

The crackdown on protests, which have spread to other areas of China, has left at least 80 people dead, according to Tibet's government-in-exile, although the official death toll in China's state-run media remained at 10.
Source : PTI