Protests broken up

By Eva Cheng

Over the last few weeks, several peaceful demonstrations and solidarity actions in Nepal and Thailand against human rights violations in China were broken up by police, and demonstrators were arrested.

According to Amnesty International, "scores" were arrested in a protest in central Kathmandu on March 18. They include members of AI's Nepal section and the Tibetan community. The Nepalese authorities had been notified in advance, as required, and the plan was to march to the Chinese embassy.

An AI member had been arrested that morning when he went to a police station to visit three other members who were arrested the previous day while collecting signatures and distributing material on human rights in China.

About a week earlier, AI delegates were prevented by Thai police from attending a press conference to launch an international campaign on the same issue. They were later stopped at the entrance of the Chinese embassy, where they wanted to deliver AI's report on China, No One Is Safe.

AI expressed particular concern about the Tibetan people detained in connection with the demonstration, stressing that those without proper identification papers are at risk of deportation to China.

From GLW issue 226