Kathmandu: Nepal baton-charged an anti-China demonstration and detained dozens of protesters today amid warnings from the United Nations human rights agency that arresting Tibetan protesters without charges was illegal.

Nepal has seen almost daily anti-China protests since March 10 and hundreds have been detained since then. Today, protesters were picked up by police and dragged into trucks or vans in front of a Chinese consulate office in the Nepali capital. Police said 71 protesters were held and sent to different detention centres.

One protesting monk was seen falling to the ground after being beaten by police. This is to show our solidarity with (the people) in Tibet, said monk Lopsang Semten before he was dragged by police. Another protester, Nima Dolma, 25, said China must stop killing in Tibet, free all those who are arrested and hold talks with the Dalai Lama.

Yesterday, authorities detained more than 400 people in separate protests, prompting the United Nations human rights agency to express deep concern and ask the government to refrain from unlawful actions. The Nepal unit of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said late on Monday some people had been arrested in the streets of Kathmandu on the basis of their appearance and on the assumption they hold certain political opinions and might participate in protests.

Such arrests constitute a form of unlawful discrimination, said Richard Bennett, OHCHR representative in Nepal. Moreover, the practice of widespread arrests without charges is against the spirit of democratic society governed by human rights and the rule of law, he said. More than 20,000 Tibetans have been living in Nepal since fleeing the Himalayan region after a failed uprising against Beijing in 1959.

Kathmandu says they are free to stay but cannot hold any political activity in Nepal, which considers Tibet as part of China, a key donor to its economic development.

Source : UNI