Tibetans protest in front of UN office in Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 17 : Tibetans living in-exile in India on Monday protested in front of the United Nations office here demanding that the international organisation protect human rights and put pressure on China.

Dozens of Tibetan Youth Congress activists waved Tibetan flags, banners and placards and marched to the UN office, where they staged a demonstration against the Chinese crackdown in Lhasa, shouting slogans such as "UN where are you?", "Give us freedom" and "We want justice".

"United Nation is an organisation that is supposed to see activities of all the countries. We have given a memorandum to United Nations to stop the killings and bloodshed in China. If they don't stop it then we will definitely do something as our country is in peril. With every passing day number of Tibetan killings is increasing," said Tenzin, a leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

The demands in the memorandum are that the UN pressurise China, not hold the Olympics until Tibet is free and human rights violation in Tibet are stopped.

"By UN regulations, we have received the manifesto, and now, we have talked to the members of the group to disperse. We will send the manifesto to the United Nations Secretariat," said said Alionne Diob, Chief Security Officer United Nations for India and Bhutan.

Anti-riot troops have locked down Lhasa to prevent a repeat of Friday's violence, the most serious in nearly two decades.

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said the Tibetan nation was in serious danger and called for an investigation into what he called cultural genocide in his homeland.

The Dalai Lama, who says he wants more autonomy but not independence foribet, said China deserved to host the August Olympic Games, but the international community had a "moral responsibility" to remind China to be a good host.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala said 80 people had died in the clashes between authorities and protesters last week, and 72 had been injured.

But Xinhua news agency said that only 10 "innocent civilians" had died, mostly in fires lit by rioters, and that 12 policemen had been seriously injured.

ANI