Full Focus

A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

Editor's Choice

Our best photos from the last 24 hours.  See more 

Pictures

Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Reuters Photojournalism

Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography.  See more | Photo caption 

Photo

Maxim Hot 100

The world's most beautiful women as chosen by Maxim readers.  Slideshow 

Shreen Mohammad sits with other recruits during a military exercise at the Kabul Military Training Center (KMTC) in Kabul March 28, 2012. A landmark NATO summit in Chicago endorsed an exit strategy that calls for handing control of Afghanistan to its own security forces by the middle of next year but left questions unanswered about how to prevent a slide into chaos and a Taliban resurgence after allied troops are gone. Picture taken March 28, 2012. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY SOCIETY) ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 18 OF 27 FOR PACKAGE 'AFGHAN ARMY RECRUIT'

Afghan army recruit

A look at an Afghan recruit as he goes through the process of joining the Afghan National Army.  Slideshow 

U.N warns Nepal on detention of Tibetan protesters

Related Topics

By Gopal Sharma

KATHMANDU | Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:11am EDT

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal baton-charged an anti-China demonstration and detained dozens of protesters on Tuesday amid warnings from the United Nations human rights agency that arresting Tibetan protesters without charges was illegal.

Nepal has seen almost daily anti-China protests since March 10 and hundreds have been detained since then.

On Tuesday, protesters were picked up by police and dragged into trucks or vans in front of a Chinese consulate office in the Nepali capital.

Police said 71 protesters were held and sent to different detention centers.

One protesting monk was seen falling to the ground after being beaten by police.

"This is to show our solidarity with (the people) in Tibet," said monk Lopsang Semten before he was dragged by police.

Another protester, Nima Dolma, 25, said China must "stop killing in Tibet, free all those who are arrested and hold talks with the Dalai Lama".

On Monday, authorities detained more than 400 people in separate protests, prompting the United Nations human rights agency to express deep concern and ask the government to refrain from unlawful actions.

The Nepal unit of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said late on Monday some people had been arrested in the streets of Kathmandu on the basis of their appearance and on the assumption they hold certain political opinions and might participate in protests.

"Such arrests constitute a form of unlawful discrimination," said Richard Bennett, OHCHR representative in Nepal.

"Moreover, the practice of widespread arrests without charges is against the spirit of democratic society governed by human rights and the rule of law," he said.

More than 20,000 Tibetans have been living in Nepal since fleeing the Himalayan region after a failed uprising against Beijing in 1959.

Kathmandu says they are free to stay but cannot hold any political activity in Nepal, which considers Tibet as part of China, a key donor to its economic development.

(Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee and Jerry Norton)
World
Comments (0)
This discussion is now closed. We welcome comments on our articles for a limited period after their publication.