US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU507

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000507 
 
SIPDIS 
 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
BEIJING PASS CHENGDU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2012 
TAGS: PHUM, PREF, PREL, PGOV, NP 
SUBJECT: TIBETANS MARK MARCH 10 WITH PEACEFUL CEREMONY; 
PROTESTERS BEATEN AT CHINESE EMBASSY 
 
REF: 00 KATHMANDU 562 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Michael S. Hoza, Reasons 1.5 (b),(d). 
 
Dalai Lama's Portrait Paraded on March 10 
------------------------------------------ 
 
1. (C) Authorities in Nepal allowed the Tibetan community to 
mark the forty-third anniversary of the March 10 uprising in 
Tibet with a public ceremony at Kathmandu's Bouddha stupa.  A 
full procession paraded the Dalai Lama's portrait around the 
square and a school band played the national anthems of both 
Tibet and Nepal.  Press accounts estimate the crowd size at 
2000.  On March 11, the Kathmandu Post, Nepal's leading 
English-language daily, led with a photograph captioned: "a 
group of Nepalese and Tibetan people pray in front of 
Bouddhanath Stupa in the capital on Sunday."  (Note:  The 
caption studiously avoided mention of the ceremony's 
significance.  Post has faxed a copy of the photo to SA/INS. 
End Note.) 
 
Police Briefed, But Not Home Ministry 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) On March 9, Police approached Tibetan community 
leaders to ask what they had planned to mark the next day's 
anniversary.  (Note:  Over the years area police have become 
intimate with the Tibetan ceremonial calendar; violence 
marred the March 10 event two years ago when fighting broke 
after some in the crowd threw rocks at law enforcement 
officers (Reftel).)  Subsequently, the Tibet Office 
Representative met with and briefed police.  The 
Representative decided not to notify Home Ministry officials 
in advance, however. 
 
Demonstrators Detained, Beaten 
------------------------------ 
 
3. (C) A group of Tibetans were detained and reportedly 
beaten by police after they held a sit-down demonstration in 
front of the Chinese Embassy.  Later in the day, a police van 
drove them around and released them, one by one, at various 
locations around the city.  One member of the group remains 
unaccounted for; the Tibet Office has been attempting to 
locate the man, in his late twenties.  Upon the conclusion of 
the ceremony in Bouddha, the group, waving the Tibetan flag 
and carrying "Free Tibet" banners, traveled by bus to the 
tourist quarter, Thamel.  From there they marched through a 
residential neighborhood - moving unmolested through at least 
one police checkpoint - to the Chinese Embassy, where they 
reportedly sat down in an open space in front of the entrance 
and began chanting slogans.  The small number of police 
stationed at the Embassy did not react, but soon police in a 
van arrived.  After striking some members of the group with 
batons, they loaded them onto the van and took them away. 
The Tibet Office Representive judged that this was an 
impromptu demonstration, neither organized nor sanctioned by 
any of the many Tibetan youth groups operating in Nepal. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
4. (C) That the Tibetan community could hold a large public 
ceremony - complete with patriotic songs and the Dalai Lama's 
countenance on display - during the ongoing state of 
emergency seems to validate comments by the Prime Minister 
and others that the emergency is targeted at the Maoists, and 
not the rights of Nepalis.  Granted, the Tibetan community 
leaders were careful not to push too hard, and ordered that 
Tibetan flags and incendiary political banners be kept to a 
minimum.  Less wisely, the demonstrators at the Chinese 
Embassy ignored the emergency decree - and the fact that 
civil liberties, including the right to assembly, have been 
suspended.  Post will follow up on the extent and nature of 
police actions against the demonstrators as well as the fate 
of the missing man. 
MALINOWSKI