House arrest for all Tibetans till March 31

A day after a man set himself ablaze to protest against the Chinese premier’s visit to India for the BRICS summit, the Delhi Police started cracking down on Tibetan activists with the detention of prominent Tibetan activist and poet Tenzin Tsundue from a seminar being held at the Indian Habitat Centre on Tuesday.

A day after a man set himself ablaze to protest against the Chinese President’s visit to India for the BRICS summit, the Delhi Police started cracking down on Tibetan activists with the detention of prominent Tibetan activist and poet Tenzin Tsundue from a seminar being held at the Indian Habitat Centre on Tuesday.

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After that, scores of activists were detained from several locations across Delhi.

Cops also issued orders of house arrest for all Tibetans till March 31. They said that this was a precautionary measure since Tibetans had come out on the streets despite being denied permission for protest.

The police have also sealed areas populated by Tibetans including Majnu ka Tila, Budh Vihar and Tibetan youth hostel in Rohini.

To curb protests by Tibetan activists and suicide bids on the streets of Delhi, the police have also locked up Tibetans inside seminar halls.

One such incident took place at Ambedkar Bhawan near Videocon tower where a seminar was organised by the Tibetan Youth Congress. Two Tibetan activists were also picked up from the Press Club of India.

Tibetans worldwide are taking to self immolation to protest against the Chinese rule.

“In Tibet, our people live under the repressive system imposed by the Chinese government, with no space for protest. Tibetans living in the free world have space for conventional means of protests that should be utilised to the fullest,” said Youdon Aukatsang, member of Tibetan parliament in exile.

The police also detained hundreds of Tibetan Youth Congress members. Tibetans living in India have termed the detention as an attack on their freedom of speech.

The Delhi Police, however, said that these were just preventive measures to avoid any more suicide bids on the streets of Delhi. “The law and order shouldn’t deteriorate in the Capital during the BRICS summit,” said Dharmendra Kumar, special commissioner of police, law and order.