Tibetans protest in Nepal, 250 detained

China has agreed to have talks with the Dalai Lama

Nepali police broke up an anti-China rally by Tibetan exiles in Kathmandu, detaining 250 protesters in the latest in a series of demonstrations.

Police holding plastic shields dragged the protesters into iron-meshed vans and trucks and drove them to detention centres, witnesses said.

"We have very cordially detained them for obstructing the road," senior police officer Pashupati Upadhyaya said.

Witnesses said some exiles were also hurt in the scuffle.

The protesters were held as they tried to march towards the high security United Nations office in Nepal.

Nepal has seen almost daily protests by exiles.

Last week, the United Nations urged the government to uphold the rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

There are more than 20 000 exiled Tibetans living in Nepal since they fled Chinese rule after a failed uprising in 1959. They are not allowed to organise political activities.

A wave of protests in Tibet that began with peaceful rallies in its capital Lhasa on March 10, the 49th anniversary of the uprising, erupted into a riot five days later.

Since then, anti-government demonstrations have flared throughout ethnic Tibetan parts of China, leading to violence, while many Tibetans outside China have held protests of their own. - Reuters