Tibetans in Kathmandu show their support for fellow countrymen in China as
they call for a free Tibet.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL (MARCH 18, 2008)(REUTERS) - Tibetans living in Kathmandu on Tuesday (March 18) showed their
solidarity for Tibetans in China by protesting for a free Tibet.
    As protesters gathered infront of the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) building in Kathmandu, they called for the release of
political activists arrested by the Chinese authorities, and for the Beijing
Olympic games to be stopped. They also called for the exiled Dalai Lama to be
allowed to live in Tibet. 
    In a call or their demands to be met, 11 young activists have been on
hunger strike for a week, and in a show of support other activists and
Buddhist monks took part in a 24 hour fast.
    Later on Tuesday Nepalese authorities sent vans of police to the scene
to break up the protest,  television pictures showed the police scuffling with
demonstrators and beating them with batons.  Scores of protesters were
arrested and dragged into the back of trucks before being driven away by
police.
    The region's biggest protests in two decades began last Monday (March
10). China say 10 people have been killed while the exiled Tibetan government
says it has confirmed 80 deaths and believes there are hundreds more.