Nepal police detain seven in pro-Tibet protest

Tibetan protesters sit in a candlelight protest at Thamel in Kathmandu April 9, 2009.

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepali police broke up an anti-China protest in Kathmandu on Thursday and detained at least seven Tibetans who were demanding greater autonomy for the region, police said.

More than 20,000 Tibetan exiles have settled in Nepal since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

The exiles have held regular protests after a Chinese crackdown on Tibet began last year, but they have been largely muted under a more pro-Beijing government than its predecessor.

"We have detained seven people," senior police official Nawaraj Silwal said. It was not immediately clear whether they will be charged.

Nepal, now led by former Maoist rebels who were elected to power after a decade-long civil war, sees Tibet as an integral part of China.

China is a key aid donor to and trade partner of Nepal and has pressed Kathmandu to stop pro-Tibet protests.

On Thursday, witnesses said dozens of Tibetans and their supporters held a candlelight vigil but some were quickly hauled into vans and driven to a detention centre.

Riot police also stopped protesters as they tried to march to the tourist district of Thamel in the heart of the Nepali capital.

Many carried placards demanding greater human rights and religious freedom in Tibet, as well as pictures of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Demonstrators held in previous protests in Kathmandu were released within a couple of days.

Protests by Buddhist monks in Tibet against Chinese rule in March last year led to the deaths of 19 people and sparked waves of protests in Tibetan areas. Tibetan exiles say more than 200 people died in the crackdown.

Meeting in Dharamsala, India, last November, Tibetan exiles reaffirmed their commitment to the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way" approach which abandons the goal of an independent Tibet in favour of seeking greater autonomy within China.

(For the latest Reuters news on Nepal see: in.reuters.com, for blogs see blogs.reuters.com/in/)