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Protests Mark 54th Anniversary of Tibetan Uprising


Tibetan exiles demonstrated across Asia and Europe Sunday to mark the 54th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

In Dharamsala, India - home of Tibet's government-in-exile - police prevented a man from setting himself on fire as hundreds of Tibetans gathered to commemorate the unsuccessful 1959 revolt.

More demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet took place in New Delhi and in Taiwan.

In Nepal, however, a heavy police presence in Katmandu prevented demonstrators from taking to the streets. Around 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, and the country is under intense pressure from Beijing because of the exiles.

Thousands of Tibetans from across Europe marched in Brussels to press the European Union to reach out to China to end its repression and bring peace to their disputed homeland.



More than 100 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 to protest what they say are rising atrocities committed by Chinese authorities. Most of the burnings have occurred in Tibetan-inhabited regions of China.

In the past few months, the Chinese government has employed stepped up tactics to discourage the protests, detaining and jailing people it says have incited the unrest.

China maintains Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region had a long history of being functionally independent.
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