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KATHMANDU: At least 245 Tibetans were detained in Nepal on Monday after police baton-charged a pro-Tibet rally near a United Nations office in Kathmandu, police and an eyewitness said.
"We have 245 Tibetans currently in detention from protests this morning in front of the UN," senior police officer Sharad Karki told AFP.
Police used bamboo batons to break up a crowd of about 500 Tibetan protesters carrying placards calling for a "Free Tibet," an AFP reporter at the scene said, adding that a few appeared to have sustained injuries.
"We will continue our protests. Chinese should not be allowed to kill Tibetans," Kesang Dolkar, 38, told AFP before being taken away in a police van.
Protests have been held nearly every day in Kathmandu since unrest erupted on March 14 in Lhasa, capital of the Tibetan region, prompting a crackdown by security forces.
A Tibetan official in exile in Dharamshala, India, told AFP on Monday that about 130 people have been confirmed killed in the crackdown in China's Tibet region.
China said Saturday that 18 civilians and one police officer were killed in the rioting in Lhasa, raising its official death toll from 13.
Nepal officially recognises the "One China" policy that says Tibet, overrun by Chinese troops in 1951, and Taiwan, still regarded as a "renegade" province, are indivisible parts of the country.
About 20,000 Tibetan refugees have lived in Nepal after the Dalai Lama fled to India from the remote Himalayan region in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese. - AFP/ac
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