Maroon-robed monks and nuns with shaven heads, some with Tibetan flags and placards calling for independence, were among the participants who walked silently for eight kilometers, or five miles on the outskirts of the Nepali capital. In Katmandu, the police kept a strict vigil and snatched some flags, but they let the march continue from the Boudha suburb to the ancient monastery of Swyambhu outside the main city. Exiles called for fact-finding missions from the United Nations and other organizations to “assess the actual situation in Tibet and let the world know the truth.” More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, the second biggest home for them outside Tibet after India, having fled there after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Nepal, which considers Tibet part of China, which is an aid donor and trade partner for Tibet, says the exiles can stay in the impoverished nation but cannot organize any activities against its influential neighbor. The refugees have managed to protest, however, and have tried to storm the Chinese consular office in Katmandu regularly since a crackdown on anti-China riots in Tibet in March. About 10,000 refugees have been arrested in the past five months, but later freed. Human Rights Watch, based in New York, said last month that the Nepali authorities were under pressure from Beijing to stop Tibetan protests, a charge China denied. Nepal’s new Maoist Prime Minister, Prachanda, also known as Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was in Beijing to attend the closing of the Olympics, and was to meet President Hu Jintao of China and other leaders and discuss Nepal-China relations.
