Security beefed up around Chinese Embassy in Nepal

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-10 09:06

KATHMANDU -- Nepali police beefed up security in the areas around the Chinese Embassy and the consular office here on Monday to ward off possible violence by Tibetan separatists.

Superintendent of Police in the Metropolis Police Range at Hanuman Dhoka of Kathmandu, Nawaraj Silwal, told the local press that Nepali police cordoned off the Chinese Embassy and the consular office, announcing the areas as special security zones.

Nepali police took the move after they arrested some Tibetan separatists suspected of carrying out sabotage against the Chinese diplomatic mission on Sunday.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the democratic reform in Tibet.

Fifty years ago, the central government of China foiled an armed rebellion started on March 10 by the Dalai Lama and his supporters to block the reform of the feudal serfdom in Tibet and split the region from China.

On March 28, 1959, a new local Tibetan government was formed, freeing millions of Tibetan serfs and slaves, who accounted for more than 90 percent of the then population in the region.

The Dalai Lama and his followers, since their exile, have continued to pursue either disguised or undisguised activities to separate Tibet from China and restore feudal serfdom in the region.

On March 14 last year, followers of the Dalai Lama staged riotsin Lhasa to put pressure on the central government. Their violence resulted in 18 deaths of civilians and a huge loss of properties.