By Abhishek Madhukar
DHARAMSALA, India (Reuters) - Tibetan refugees protestedacross the world on Monday to mark the 49th anniversary of anuprising against Chinese rule and press their demand forindependence ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
In Nepal, many people were hurt when police used batons tobreak up a march on the Chinese embassy, while in neighbouringIndia 101 refugees set off on a five-month march to Tibetaccompanied by thousands of well-wishers.
In Greece, a dozen Tibetans lit a torch outside Olympia,site of the ancient Olympic Games, to launch a global torchrelay which they hope will be taken to more than 20 countriesand end at Tibet's border just as the Beijing Olympics start onAugust 8.
As the Olympics approach, Tibetans are trying toreinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against whatthey see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland.
In India, several thousand people, Tibetans, Indians andWesterners, accompanied the marchers as they set off from thetown of Dharamsala, home to Tibet's spiritual leader the DalaiLama and the refugees' "government-in-exile".
"Everybody is pumped up," Tsewang Rigzin, president of theTibetan Youth Congress told Reuters. "Many people were in tearsas they said goodbye to the marchers.
"As refugees we have a right to return to our homeland," hesaid, but Indian officials said the marchers would not beallowed to cross the border.
The marchers, red-robed Buddhist monks and nuns and youngpeople born in exile, carried Tibetan flags and pictures of theDalai Lama and Indian independence leader and advocate ofnon-violent civil disobedience Mahatma Gandhi.
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.
"With the Olympics in China, and the Chinese governmentusing this platform to legitimise its illegal occupation ofTibet, we are demonstrating that Tibet belongs to Tibetans andwe will never give up until Tibet is independent," Rigzin said.
TIBETAN CUSTOMS "FADING AWAY"
The Dalai Lama used the occasion to complain that Tibet'slanguage, customs and traditions were "gradually fading away"as they become "an insignificant minority" in their homeland.
Tibetans "have had to live in a state of constant fear,intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression", he saidin a statement issued from Dharamsala.
"Repression continues to increase with numerous,unimaginable and gross violations of human rights, denial ofreligious freedom and the politicisation of religious issues."
In Nepal, around 1,000 Tibetans shouting "free Tibet" triedto march towards the high-security Chinese embassy in Kathmandubut were stopped by police.
A protest organiser, who gave his name as Gyatho, said manywere hurt and around 150 detained. Police said five of theirmen were hurt by stones thrown by the protesters.
Nepal's Home Ministry spokesman Modraj Dotel said policewere ordered not to allow any "anti-China" demonstrations to goahead.
In Greece, protesters were barred from entering the ancientsite Olympia, which has hosted the Games' torch-lightingceremony since 1936. Instead, they lit the torch outside thegates but complained of harassment by police.
"This is proof of the Chinese state's wide influence,"Tendon Dahortsang of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europesaid.
"Greek authorities told us we were not allowed to go inbecause of our big bags, as Chinese embassy officials stoodnearby and watched us."
Tibetan shot-putter Tsultrim Gope was the first relayrunner who took the lit torch after five women representinggoddesses performed a traditional Tibetan ceremony.
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.
The organisers of the protests said they had not soughtapproval from the Dalai Lama, who takes a more moderate linethan many of them and says he wants autonomy for Tibet, notoutright independence.
(Additional reporting by Gopal Sharma in Kathmandu, KarolosGrohmann in Athens; Writing by Simon Denyer; Editing byAlistair Scrutton)