By IANS
New Delhi : Nearly 30 Tibetan activists barged into the Chinese embassy here scaling the boundary wall in a bid to protest Beijing’s recent directive to not recognise reincarnations of Buddhist lamas outside China. Delhi Police, however, denied there was any security breach.
Security personnel in the city’s diplomatic enclave were taken by surprise when the group made the assault on the otherwise well-guarded embassy, Tibetan activists said.
A senior Chinese embassy official contacted by IANS refused to comment on the security cover provided by Delhi Police or any lack thereof. He pointed out that this was not the first time that the embassy had to face such an incident.
A spokesman for the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) told IANS that the Tibetans painted the embassy walls with “Free Tibet” and “Quit China” slogans in red and a few chained themselves to a Chinese flag-post inside the embassy compound.
“We strongly condemn and demand the immediate termination and complete withdrawal of China’s new religious measures on (the Dalai Lama’s) reincarnation,” TYC vice president Dorjee Dhondup said.
“We have detained at least 22 activists,” said Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat. He denied the Tibetans entered the embassy and added that no case had been registered against any of them.
According to the new measures, the Chinese government will approve Tibet’s spiritual leaders, known as lamas, ending their centuries-old tradition of selecting monks, including Tibetans’ spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
“This protest was against the new Chinese law which bars any Buddhist monk living outside China from seeking reincarnation for himself or for recognition as a ‘living Buddha’,” Dorjee said.
India is home to the Dalai Lama, whose government-in-exile – not recognised by any country – is based in the hill town of Dharamsala, and some 100,000 Tibetans.