Reported by Lhuboom for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Tibetans living in Nepal observed Tibet’s Democracy Day under close watch by local police who kept Tibetan gatherings out of the public eye for fear of offending Nepal’s powerful northern neighbor China, an important source of foreign investment in the Himalayan country.
Thursday marked the 61st anniversary of the seating of Tibet’s first India-based parliament-in-exile, a first step in the political development of the Tibetan diaspora community that now includes the election by popular vote of their political leader, or Sikyong.
Nepalese authorities concerned that Tibetan residents might stage protests outside Nepal’s Chinese consulate deployed large numbers of police to guard the building, Sangpo Lama—program coordinator for the Human Rights Organization of Nepal (HURON)—told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“One could also see many police officers both in uniform and in plain clothes stationed around the Boudhanath Stupa and other Tibetan settlements,” Lama said, referring to a large religious structure central to the social and commercial life of the Tibetan community in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu.
Around 20 officers were also deployed, and a police truck stationed, outside the Jawalakhel Tibetan settlement, also in Kathmandu, he said.
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