By IANS,
Dharamsala : Thousands of Tibetans held anti-China protests in this seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile Thursday coinciding with similar demonstrations against the Beijing Olympics flame in the Indian capital.
A prayer meeting was held here in the morning in solidarity with the protests in New Delhi.
By afternoon, thousands of Tibetans including Buddhist monks and nuns and children assembled in upper Dharamsala and marched for several kilometres on the winding road to lower Dharamsala.
Many had covered their mouths with red bands. It signified that “in Communist China Tibetans have no right to speech”, said a protester.
Many held placards and posters saying “Allow free press into Tibet” and “Free detained prisoners”. The Tibetan Solidarity Committee organised the protests.
Himachal Pradesh has a large number of Tibetan refugees in the country. Dharamsala is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile headed by the Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959.
Meanwhile, a hunger strike organised by Tibetan women and youths entered the 36th day here.
Protests were also organised in many other places of Himachal Pradesh including state capital Shimla.
New Delhi has seen a spurt in anti-China protests by Tibetans ever since violence erupted in Lhasa last month leaving many people – Tibetans as well as Chinese – dead.