DHARAMSALA, India, March 11 (Reuters) - Indian police have barred a group of around 100 Tibetans from marching towards the Chinese border to press their claims for independence and protest against the Beijing Olympics.
The marchers set off on Monday as part of global protests to mark the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule, leaving from the town of Dharamsala, home to Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the refugees' "government-in-exile".
But on Monday night Indian police told the marchers they were not to leave the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh state until further notice.
Marchers said they expected to reach the borders of the district by around Thursday evening, and continued their march as planned on Tuesday morning.
"Tibetan refugees have the right to return to Tibet," said Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress. "This is the first major obstacle we are facing, but we remain committed to marching."
Kangra police superintendent Atul Fulzele told Reuters he had received orders from the central government to restrain the marchers, since they were in breach of an agreement not to conduct "anti-Chinese activities" on Indian soil.
India's home ministry at first said the restraining order had been issued by the Himachal Pradesh government, and later declined further comment.
The marchers vowed to press on anyway.
"If stopped, we are going to practice non-violence," one of the 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 are released," added veteran Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue.
As the Olympics approach, Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against what they see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland.
But their protests ran into trouble.
China detained between 50 and 60 monks who led a march towards Tibet's capital Lhasa, according to a report by the U.S. government-funded radio station, Radio Free Asia.
In Nepal, many protesters were hurt when police used batons to break up a march on the Chinese embassy, while in Greece activists complained of harassment by police when they lit a torch at Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games.
The protests marked the anniversary of a 1959 uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule, which was crushed by the People's Liberation Army, driving the Dalai Lama into exile.
The Dalai Lama last week rejected a Chinese accusation he was trying to sabotage the Olympics, saying he always supported Beijing's right to host the Games.
Source Reuters
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