Tibetan refugees protest ahead of Beijing Olympics

Tibetan refugees protested across the world yesterday to mark the 49th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule and press their demand for independence ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

In Nepal, many people were hurt when police used batons to break up a march on the Chinese embassy, while in neighbouring India 101 refugees set off on a five-month march to Tibet accompanied by thousands of well-wishers.

In Greece, a dozen Tibetans lit a torch outside Olympia, site of the ancient Olympic Games, to launch a global torch relay which they hope will be taken to more than 20 countries and end at Tibet's border just as the Beijing Olympics start on August 8.

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.

In India, several thousand people, Tibetans, Indians and Westerners, accompanied the marchers as they set off from the town of Dharamsala, home to Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the refugees' "government-in-exile".

The marchers, red-robed Buddhist monks and nuns and young people born in exile, carried Tibetan flags and pictures of the Dalai Lama and Indian independence leader and advocate of non-violent civil disobedience Mahatma Gandhi.

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.

"With the Olympics in China, and the Chinese government using this platform to legitimise its illegal occupation of Tibet, we are demonstrating that Tibet belongs to Tibetans and we will never give up until Tibet is independent," a protestor said.

The Dalai Lama used the occasion to complain that Tibet's language, customs and traditions were "gradually fading away" as they become "an insignificant minority" in their homeland.

Tibetans "have had to live in a state of constant fear, intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression", he said in a statement issued from Dharamsala.

"Repression continues to increase with numerous, unimaginable and gross violations of human rights, denial of religious freedom and the politicisation of religious issues."

The Dalai Lama last week rejected a Chinese accusation that he was trying to sabotage the Olympics, saying he always supported Beijing's right to host the Games.

The organisers of the protests said they had not sought approval from the Dalai Lama, who takes a more moderate line than many of them and says he wants autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence.