Tibetans Storm Chinese Embassy

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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6NG8iGoKShLziFNw8plKcqZubtwD8S69U400

Tibetans Storm Chinese Embassy
By GAVIN RABINOWITZ – 13 hours ago

NEW DELHI (AP) — Some 30 Tibetan exiles protesting Chinese religious policies stormed the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on Wednesday, with several breaching the front gate and chaining themselves to the flag pole inside, police and witnesses said.

Others repeatedly sprayed "Free Tibet" in red paint on the embassy walls and the main gate before many of the demonstrators were forcibly taken away by Indian police, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene.

The activists were protesting a recent Chinese order that Beijing must approve all of Tibet's spiritual leaders, known as Lamas. For centuries, the search for the reincarnation of lamas — including Tibet's spiritual head, the Dalai Lama — has been carried out by select Tibetan monks.

"This order is an attempt to undermine the influence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama," said Dorjee Bhondup, a leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress who was at the protest.

The protest is one of a series in India against what the Tibetan exiles say are China's continued attempts to subvert Tibetan Buddhist culture and strengthen Beijing's hold on the Himalayan region.

In August, thousands of Tibetan exiles marched through New Delhi to protest the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Chinese plans to have the Olympic torch run go through Tibet.

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