Pictures from Kathmandu Protests

A Tibetan nun prays during a prayer meeting at a Tibetan refugee camp in Kathmandu March 18, 2008. The meeting was held to show solidarity with 11 people who are on a hunger strike to protest the situation in Tibet.


Protesters sit holding a photo of the Dalai Lama at a Tibetan solidarity rally outside the UN office in Kathmandu March 17, 2008.


Blood flows down the face of a Tibetan monk after he was hit by police during a Tibetan solidarity protest outside the UN office in Kathmandu. Police fired tear gas on Monday at about 200 Tibetan exiles, including monks and nuns, who staged a brief protest in front of the United Nations office in Kathmandu. Police used batons to break up the protests and detained dozens of protesters.


Tibetan monks and nuns take part in a prayer at Baudha in the Nepali capital Kathmandu March 18, 2008. The prayers are to show solidarity for the Tibetan people and for those killed during protests in Lhasa. The painting in the background is that of the Potala Palace in Lhasa.


Tibetans take part in a hunger strike in the Tibetan refugee camp at Jawlakhel in Kathmandu March 19, 2008. Tibetans living in Nepal took part in a 24- hour hunger strike organized to show their solidarity with protests in Tibet.


Tibetan protesters hold a candle-lit vigil as part of an anti-China demonstration at the Swayambhunath Temple in Kathmandu

A woman holds a Tibetan flag as she is driven away in a police van after being arrested for taking part in a peaceful Tibetan solidarity protest outside the U.N. headquarters in Kathmandu.

Tibetan Protests

As some of you may have heard, people are taking to the streets in Kathmandu to protest the recent killing and suppression of Tibetan protestors in Lhasa, Tibet. At least ten people were hurt in clashes between the police and protestors at what was initially a peaceful demonstration (candlelit march) in front of the United Nations building in the center of the city. Tibetan protestors were there to submit a memorandum to the UN to put international pressure on China against the violent crackdowns in Lhasa. Police resorted to baton charges and tear gas shelling- they also arrested 48 people including several nuns and monks. Last week another protest turned violent in the prodominately buddhist section of the city.


I was not at either protest, but it has been widely reported that the police used excessive force and even the United Nations Office of the High Commisioner for Human Rights expressed concern over their actions. The pictures coming out in the paper and on the internet are very graphic- I have posted some in another blog. Seeing the Nepali police in action, I am not surprised that they took liberaties with the protestors rights to peaceful assembly. Most of the protestors look to be either women, nuns or monks- are they that scary and overpowering that the police must spray them with tear gas and beat them with batons? It is disconcerting because most internal human rights organizations in Nepal are run by people whose ideological inclination is by and large towards Communist Party Nepal- Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML)- a party which advocates communism and a one-China policy.

This is all so crazy to me because about a week ago I sat at my friend's house and watched a video he made while walking down the streets of Lhasa, Tibet. He was there just three weeks ago and in the video the city looked so peaceful and full of love. Children were smiling and playing around and everyone was with family praying or in devotion. In the next morning's news paper I saw picutres of Lhasa literally burning and the streets filled with smoke and violence. It was unrecognizable from what I saw on the video. In the article the first line was, "as tanks approached the city streets in Lhasa.." Tanks, or any other mechanism of violence or aggression should never be in the same sentence as the Lhasa I saw in those pictures- or the Lhasa I have always imagined in my mind.

The defense of human rights, in princple and practice, has no geographical boundaries. I hope the international community actually takes a stand against what is happening throughout Tibet right now and even here in Kathmandu. It hits home because it is now in my backyard and I can not ignore it or say that it doesn't effect me. I have lots of Tibetan friends and I can see the hurt this has caused them and the negativity is has brought to their cause. Hopefully the violence and volations will end soon, but as China likes to sensor the media and block reporters from accounting truth, I imagine we will never be able to see what is really happening.