At least 56 Tibetan protestors were detained by the police when they tried to storm the Chinese consulate at Nariman Point on Thursday protesting China’s policies in Tibet.
The police defused brewing tension by promptly rounding up the protestors and packing them off in waiting vans to a nearby police station. As per a Bombay High Court stricture, demonstrations are not permitted in that area.
“You can chose to assemble and demonstrate only at Azad Maidan and in no other place in that area,” said deputy commissioner of police Brijesh Singh.
The protestors are likely to be released by evening, the police said.
The Olympics torch relay through countries across continents has evoked widespread protests and stiff opposition from the Tibetans. Tibetans, without exception, have condemned the current posturing of the Chinese dispensation and their ‘expansionist ambitions’ and also what they view as mindless meddling in the internal affairs of their country by an aggressive colonial power.
The demonstrators, who came in three separate batches, assembled in front of the consulate and shouted anti-China and oppose-Olympics slogans. However, they failed to make much headway because of a heavy security bandobast being put in place on almost all the roads leading to the consulate building. Extra reinforcements were also rushed from adjoining areas when the protestors began marching forward.
“We did things peacefully. The demonstrators planned to question China’s existing Tibet policies and at the same time attract international attention to the sufferings of the Tibetans,” said CA Kallianpur, Friends of Tibet national co-ordinator.
Dorjee Tsenten, a senior leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress, said, “We called for a complete boycott of the Olympics torch relay programme, an end to mindless Chinese aggression in Tibet and the initiation of China-Dalai Lama dialogue.”
