Tibetan Uprising

DEHRADUN, India (AFP) - Indian police Wednesday turned back more than 300 Tibetans trying to trek to their homeland in a protest against Chinese rule of the region ahead of the Beijing Olympics, an official said.

The marchers were stopped 180 kilometres (108 miles) from the Indo-Tibetan border after starting their trek in March in India’s Dharamshala where the Tibetan government-in-exile is based, the official said.

“Three hundred and twelve Tibetans were trying to go towards the border. We have sent them back,” district magistrate Senthil Pandian told AFP.

The protestors were now being sent from Berinag region in northern Uttarakhand state to neighbouring Himachal Pradesh state, where Dharamshala is located, the official and Tibetan groups which organised the march said.

“They have been taken in jeeps and buses. We assume the marchers will be dropped outside the (Uttarakhand) state,” Tenzin Choedon, media coordinator for the marchers, told AFP by phone.

The marchers had been camping in Uttarakhand, of which Dehradun is the capital, for 13 days after police detained some of their leaders last week.

“As Tibetan refugees in India, we have the right to return to our homeland,” said Tenzin Palkyi, one of the marchers.

The start of the March 10 trek coincided with the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s escape from the Tibetan capital Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

It was suspended for a month when the Tibetan spiritual leader called on the group to stop in the wake of a Chinese military and police crackdown on unrest in the Himalayan region.

Exiled Tibetan leaders say 203 people died in the Chinese crackdown on the demonstrations in Tibet, while China says it killed no one and that “rioters” were responsible for 21 deaths.

India is home to more than 100,000 Tibetan exiles.