Tibetan monk protest in Lhasa draws China's ire

BEIJING (Reuters) - China admitted on Tuesday that therehad been a protest by Tibetan monks in Tibet's capital Lhasa,underscoring the opposition Beijing still faces to its rule inthe remote Himalayan region.

Tibetans all over the world took to the streets on Mondayto commemorate the 49th anniversary of an uprising againstChinese rule and to press their demand for independence aheadof the Beijing Olympics.

"Yesterday afternoon in Lhasa city there were monks fromsome temples who, under the instigation and encouragement of asmall group of people, carried out an illegal activity thatthreatened social stability," Foreign Ministry spokesman QinGang said.

"Related departments dealt with them in accordance with thelaw," he told a news conference, declining to elaborate ontheir fate.

U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia cited a source assaying at least 300 monks marched from a monastery outsideLhasa to demand the release of monks detained last year afterthe Dalai Lama was awarded a Congressional medal in the UnitedStates.

"Authorities at a checkpoint along the way stopped anddetained between 50 and 60 monks," the report paraphrased thesource as saying.

"Witnesses reported seeing about 10 military vehicles, 10police vehicles and several ambulances at the checkpoint. Noinformation was immediately available on where the monks weretaken or why ambulances were summoned," it added.

"Another witness reported that official vehicles thenblocked off access by road to Drepung monastery, and that manymonasteries in and around Lhasa were surrounded by members ofthe paramilitary People's Armed Police," the report said.

Qin said the government took a dim view of such activities.

"Guaranteeing the country's security and social stabilityis of the utmost importance to China and the responsibility ofthe legal authorities," he said.

"We will continue to maintain social stability inaccordance with the law and strike hard against all illegal,criminal activities."

Protests were also held in India, Nepal and Greece onMonday.

INDIA TO BLOCK MARCHERS

In India, some 100 Tibetan refugees vowed to defy a policeorder and march to Tibet. They set off on Monday leaving fromthe town of Dharamsala, home to Tibet's spiritual leader theDalai Lama and the refugees' "government-in-exile".

But on Monday night Indian police told the marchers theywere not to leave the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh stateuntil further notice.

Marchers said they expected to reach the borders of thedistrict by around Thursday evening, and continued their marchas planned on Tuesday morning.

"Tibetan refugees have the right to return to Tibet," saidTsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress. "Thisis the first major obstacle we are facing, but we remaincommitted to marching."

Kangra police superintendent Atul Fulzele told Reuters hehad received orders from the central government to restrain themarchers, since they were in breach of an agreement not toconduct "anti-Chinese activities" on Indian soil.

"If stopped, we are going to practice non-violence," one ofthe coordinators of the campaign, Lobsang Yeshi, told Reuters."If arrested we will try to resist."

"If they detain us, we will start again as soon as we arereleased," added veteran Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue.

In Nepal, many protesters were hurt on Monday when policeused batons to break up a march on the Chinese embassy, whilein Greece activists complained of harassment by police whenthey lit a torch at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games.

As the Olympics approach, Tibetans are trying toreinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against whatthey see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland.

The protests marked the anniversary of a 1959 uprising inTibet against Chinese rule, which was crushed by the People'sLiberation Army, driving the Dalai Lama into exile.

The Dalai Lama last week rejected a Chinese accusation thathe was trying to sabotage the Olympics, saying he alwayssupported Beijing's right to host the Games.

(Additional reporting by Abhishek Madhukar in DHARAMSALA,India; Editing by Nick Macfie)