"Seven Tibetan men were arrested from Chuchchepati area in Bauddha as they obstructed traffic after breaking a police cordon and shouted Free Tibet slogans in front of a motorcade of Chinese officials," said Deputy Superintendent of Police Govinda Pariyar. "We have booked them under the Peace and Security Act," Pariyar said. If convicted, they face jail for up to three months.
The motorcade that was traveling to Bhaktapur was given safe passage by the police after the Tibetans were arrested. The motorcade was escorting over a dozen Chinese officials, including a central committee member of the Communist Party of China, who arrived in Kathmandu earlier this week. Though the visit has been kept low-key -- a common characteristic of visits by Chinese officials to Nepal -- the Chinese officials are believed to have asked Nepali officials to contain increasing anti-China activities by Tibetans living in Nepal.
Nepal has gradually toughened its stance on Tibetans living in Nepal after continued Chinese pressure since last year when Tibetans started their anti-China protests targeting Chinese diplomatic offices in Kathmandu following a crackdown on similar protests by China in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
Earlier this month, high-ranking Nepali security personnel were invited to Lhasa to discuss how to bolster security along Nepal-China border to check mobility of anti-China activists. Nepal is working to deploy paramilitary troops at the busiest transit points along the over 1,400-kilometer border between the two countries. There are some 20,000 Tibetan exiles living in Nepal as legitimate refugees. Thousands more are believed to be living here illegally.
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