Cops taken unawares as protesters reach Hu’s hotel

Taking the police by surprise, Tibetan protesters on Friday reached the Oberoi Hotel — where Chinese President Hu Jintao was staying — in an old DTC bus and staged a protest just 10 minutes before he was to leave for the airport.

Taking the police by surprise, Tibetan protesters on Friday reached the Oberoi Hotel — where Chinese President Hu Jintao was staying — in an old DTC bus and staged a protest just 10 minutes before he was to leave for the airport.

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They came from Lajpat Nagar direction around 9.30am, jumped off the speeding bus right outside the hotel’s main gate and started raising slogans against the Chinese president.

They gave a hard time to the police before they were chased down, bundled into vans and sent to Lajpat Nagar police station.

There was heavy police deployment outside the hotel with all connecting roads blocked with barricades. The authorities were taken aback when the Tibetans managed to make it to the protest site.

“There were seven protesters, including three girls. They were detained as soon as they jumped off the bus,” said Ajay Chaudhary, additional commissioner of Police (South East).

The Tibetans had taken to the streets throughout the week to protest Hu’s visit to New Delhi for the BRICS summit.

“We’ve been able to highlight human right violations in Tibet by the Chinese. Though free Tibet is a distant target, we need the world, including India, to support us,” said Dorjee Tsetan, director, Students for Free Tibet, who was also detained.

All detained Tibetans were freed as soon as Hu left the country. House arrest orders on all Tibetans were also lifted immediately. “We have freed all activists, including Tibetan freedom fighter and poet Tenzin Tsundue. Restrictions on their movements have also been removed,” said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of police, law and order.