Rev. Danny Fisher

This from the Associated Press:

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles defied police and resumed their march Tuesday from northern India to Tibet to protest Beijing’s hosting of this summer’s Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, Tibetans around the world commemorated their 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Local police chief Atul Fulzele said an order banning the exiles from leaving the area near the northern Indian city of Dharmsala on Monday had been issued following a recommendation from the Indian government. Dharmsala is the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, where the marchers had stopped for the night.

Tenzin Tsundue, one of the march leaders, said Tuesday morning the protesters would ignore the police order and keep marching.

“This is the fun part now,” Tsundue said. “We are ready for any kind of obstruction. We will be very peaceful but when so many people are determined to give their lives up, no police can stop us.”

Protesters rallied Monday in the Indian capital of New Delhi and in Katmandu, Nepal, where hundreds of activists clashed with police and 10 activists were detained. Pro-Tibet demonstrations also took place in San Francisco and Olympia, Greece, birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.

The march in Dharmsala got under way on the anniversary of the failed uprising that forced the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, into exile in 1959.

In Tibet, Radio Free Asia reported that as many as 300 monks marched five miles from a monastery outside the capital Lhasa to the city’s center on the 49th anniversary of the uprising.

The monks were demanding the release of monks detained last October when the Dalai Lama was given a Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, an honor that infuriated the Chinese government.

Authorities detained between 50 and 60 monks, according to the private broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress.

The India-to-Tibet march was to be one of several protests around the world before the Aug. 8-24 Beijing Games, Tibetan exile groups said.

The exile groups say China is attempting to stamp out Tibetan Buddhist culture and increase the government’s presence in Tibet. Beijing maintains that Tibet is historically part of China.

Fulzele, the local police chief, said the march goes against an agreement between New Delhi and the Tibetan government in exile.

None of the groups taking part in the march are affiliated with the government in exile; neither the Dalai Lama nor the government has issued an official statement on the march.

India, which had been sympathetic to the Tibetans’ cause, has clamped down on public protests in recent years, fearing they could embarrass Beijing and damage relations between the two Asian giants.

The Dalai Lama, speaking in Dharmsala, said that for nearly six decades Tibetans “have had to live in a state of constant fear, intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression.”

In New Delhi, more than a 1,000 protesters marched and some wrapped themselves in bandages covered with fake blood and wore cutouts of the Olympic rings around their necks.

The bandages were meant to show that the International Olympic Committee “has done a great injustice by giving the permission … the right to China to hold the Olympics,” said Jigme Yeshi, a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

Police fired tear gas and beat up hundreds of Tibetans who threw bricks and stones at police in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, officials said.

At least 10 protesters were detained near Boudhanath, one of the biggest Buddhist shrines in Nepal, said a police official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

In San Francisco, demonstrators unfurled a Tibetan flag over the steps leading into City Hall and held up a portrait of the Dalai Lama and banners saying “Olympics in China, Torture in Tibet,” and “Truth is our only weapon.”

In Olympia, Tibetans lit a Freedom Torch to start a relay intended to course through 50 cities and finish inside Tibet the same day Beijing will hold the opening ceremonies, Aug. 8.

Thanks to Phil for sending this along to us.