Tibetans defy India in march to homeland

India, 11/3/08 - Heather Timmons, International Herald Tribute (New Delhi) - About a hundred Tibetan exiles on a six-month protest march to their homeland defied Indian government orders Tuesday to halt and could be headed for a conflict with the local police.

The protesters, mostly monks and nuns, began their march Monday, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet in 1959, and planned to walk about 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, Tuesday despite a restraining order the Indian government issued Monday evening, organizers of the march said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/11/asia/tibet.php

Monks Stage Bold Protest in Tibet

Tibet, 11/3/08 - CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, AP (Beijing) – Buddhist monks staged two protests in the capital of Tibet this week in a bold, public challenge to China's rule, though a senior official said Tuesday that no one was arrested.

Champa Phuntsok, an ethnic Tibetan who heads the Tibetan regional government, said authorities briefly detained monks from Drepung monastery outside Lhasa who tried to march to the city on the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Beijing rule in 1959.

He said they were released shortly afterward after being questioned and "counseled." "It's really nothing," he told The Associated Press in Beijing, where he was attending the annual legislative session. "Everything is really great."

The protest, which overseas rights groups said involved about 300 monks, is believed to be the largest demonstration in the city since Beijing crushed a wave of pro-independence activity in 1989. Phunstok also confirmed a smaller protest at which nine monks shouted slogans near a temple in central Lhasa.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5Z6bJwtN_roGSIUQiQnfbf2NkhgD8VBA0RO1

Greek police block Tibetan activists Freedom Torch Relay at Ancient Olympia

Olympia, Greece, 10/3/08 - (Dimitris Messinis, Associated Press) - Tibetan activists held a torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia on Monday to protest China's rule over Tibet on the 49th anniversary of the thwarted uprising.

Police prevented the group, Team Tibet, from entering the Ancient Olympia stadium, and the ceremony took place outside the gates of the museum. The group intends for its Tibetan Freedom Torch Relay to pass through 50 cities and finish inside Tibet on Aug. 8, the day of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

"The Chinese regime will try to use the games to advance its own political agenda ... that's why we took the protest to Ancient Olympia," said Tendon Dahortsang, a spokeswoman for the Tibetan group. The Tibetan uprising against China was crushed in 1959, leading Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee to India.

Five Tibetan women in traditional goddess dresses performed a short ceremony outside the museum, lighting a torch and handing it to Tibetan shot-putter Tsultim Golpe. Police stopped Golpe as she took the torch and began her run, handing it back later with the flame extinguished. She and other activists were escorted back to their hotels in Olympia by police, but there were no arrests.

Officials from China's Athens Embassy were in Olympia, filming the participants in the ceremony.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2008-03-10-1238110124_x.htm