(dpa) - Dozens of Tibetan protestors were arrested Monday by police following clashes during anti-China demonstrations in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
The clashes erupted when Tibetan demonstrators, numbering about 400, tried to picket the United Nations offices in Kathmandu.
Police made baton charges and fired tear gas to disperse the Tibetan demonstrators gathered outside the UN offices.
The demonstrators were carrying placards denouncing Chinese rule in Tibet and the use of force by Chinese forces in Lhasa.
"China lies - Tibetans die" read one placard referring to the deaths of dozens of demonstrators in Tibetan capital Lhasa recently. "China get out of Tibet" read another.
"We will continue our protests in Nepal," Thupden Tenzing Zamphel, the leader of Nepal-Tibetan Volunteer Youth Forum, said. "We will not stop our protest in the face of police action."
According to Zamphel, few protestors were injured during the clashes but he said he did not know the exact figures.
"A few people sustained head injuries while others have injuries elsewhere on the body, due to the police action." Zamphel said.
He also said the police had detained between 50 to 60 demonstrators who had gone to picket the UN offices.
The Nepalese police have not disclosed the number of arrests but said they would be released by the evening.
Police also tore down the posters denouncing the Chinese rule in Tibet that were pasted by the demonstrators outside the UN compound walls.
The clashes between police and Tibetan demonstrators were the second since Saturday in Kathmandu.
During Saturday's clashes, police arrested several Tibetans who were later released.
Nepal has a large Tibetan population who entered the country in the 1950s and 1960s as refugees.
Most of them were granted Nepali citizenship and have settled in Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara in western Nepal.
The Nepalese government recognises Tibet as part of China and will not tolerate anti-Chinese demonstrations.
Following Nepal's mass movement in 2006 that toppled King Gyanendra's government, Tibetans have become more outspoken in Nepal and have organised a series of anti-China demonstrations.
Despite the political change in Nepal, authorities say the country's foreign policy with its northern neighbour and its stance toward Tibet will remain the same.
