Tibetan exiles in India continue to protest against Beijing Olympics

Manali/Dharamsala, August 10 (ANI): Tibetan exiles in Manali and Dharamsala step up their protests against the alleged Chinese suppression in their homeland even as Beijing hosts Olympics 2008.

While the people in Beijing are rejoicing the Olympic games, the Tibetan Women's Association in Manali organized mourning for the Tibetans killed in Lhasa.

The Tibetan women exiles wore black clothes and tied black bands on their mouths to mourn what they said were brutal killings of protesters in Tibet in March.

"We are totally against the China Olympics that are taking place in China. Lots of people were killed since March 10th. We are mourning here that's why we are wearing black clothes and black bands for all the Tibetans who died in Tibet," said Tenzin Sangmo, a Tibetan women.

The protesters said that China had no right to organize the games after having committed "so many brutalities in Tibet".

Meanwhile, thousands of Buddhist monks and Tibetan exiles took part in a sit-in protest in Dharamsala, home to Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

Buddhist monks and nuns dressed in maroon robes gathered to protest against the alleged Chinese suppression.

They said that the Tibetans across the globe would be stepping up protests against China's oppressive policies in Tibet.

India has been a centre of regular protests for months by Tibetan exiles who even scaled the walls of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi at least twice.

Tibetans are trying to reinvigorate their freedom movement and protest against what they see as China's illegal occupation of their homeland as Beijing is staging the Olympics 2008.

China has controlled Tibet since the People's Liberation Army troops marched into the region in 1950 with Beijing considering Tibet as an integral part of its territory.

China says it has spent billions of dollars developing the impoverished Himalayan region, and raised its living standards.

The Beijing Games torch relay was dogged by protests over Chinese rule in Tibet when it made its way through Paris, London and other cities earlier this year.

China has accused followers of the Dalai Lama of stirring the riots and protests in the Tibetan regions in March in a bid to upstage Olympic preparations. (ANI)