Tibetan exiles in India arrested near China border

DHARMSALA, India - Indian police detained 56 Tibetan exiles, including several monks and nuns, attempting to cross the border into China and protest the Beijing Olympics, police said Tuesday.

The arrests were made late Sunday night in Tabo, a remote village high in the Himalayas about 15 miles from India's border with China, said Vinod Kumar, the area's deputy superintendent of police.

In recent months, Tibetan exiles have been staging protests and trying to march to Tibet to show their support for the uprising that erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in March, and to protest China being allowed to stage the games, which begin Friday.

The Tibetans had been detained as "a preventive measure" and they have not been charged, Kumar said. A local magistrate has allowed the police to hold the group in custody for at least five days, he added.

India, home to the largest Tibetan exile community, has generally allowed the exiles to protest peacefully, but as anti-China protests gathered momentum before the Olympics, the government has said that it would not tolerate actions that embarrassed China.

Tibetan exile groups said they were trying to lend their support to those inside Tibet.

"Finally people in exile are realizing that we should do everything to support the freedom movement inside Tibet," said Tenzin Choeying, head of Students for a Free Tibet, one of several rights group based in the north Indian town of Dharmsala.

Dharmsala has been the headquarters of the Tibetan exiles since their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled there after an abortive uprising against China in 1959.

While many Tibetans oppose China hosting the Olympics, the Dalai Lama says he supports the Beijing games.