POLICE CANCEL DALAI LAMA BIRTHDAY EVENTS IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001332 SIPDIS GENEVA FOR RMA LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL BEIJING PASS CHENGDU E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2012 TAGS: PREF PHUM PREL NP SUBJECT: POLICE CANCEL DALAI LAMA BIRTHDAY EVENTS IN KATHMANDU REF: A. KATHMANDU 1326 ¶B. KATHMANDU 1315 ¶C. KATHMANDU 1245 Classified By: DCM Robert K. Boggs, Reasons 1.5, (b),(d). ¶1. (C) Summary. Three Tibetan community events planned at a major hotel in Kathmandu July 6-7 to mark the Dalai Lama's birthday were cancelled by Nepali police. The police reportedly acted out of concern for heightened sensitivities in the run-up to the first official visit to China by Nepal's new monarch. Events in honor of the Dalai Lama had been held at the Radisson in previous years, and management said it believed that such events would be allowed to occur again after the King's visit. The Office of Tibet took out a front-page ad in Nepal's premier English-language daily to announce the last-minute cancellation. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Three Tibetan community events scheduled in Kathmandu July 6 and 7 to mark the Dalai Lama's birthday were cancelled at the urging of Nepal's police. Nonetheless, a July 6 program in the Dalai Lama's honor held on the privately owned grounds of the Tibetan Reception Center, located on the outskirts of the capital, was allowed to go forward. The festivities, which lasted all day, included speeches, prayers, dancing and music. (Comment: This continues the recent pattern whereby Tibetans can hold community events on their own property--monasteries, refugee camps--but not at public venues (Ref C). End Comment.) ¶3. (C) On July 5, the Superintendent of Police (SP) for the Kathmandu Valley contacted the management of the U.S.-owned Radisson hotel, where all three receptions were to be held, the hotel's Acting General Manager (AGM) told Poloff. The SP warned that "Tibetan-related events" would not be permitted "during these days," and threatened to close them down if they attempted to go forward. If small groups of Tibetans held private, family gatherings in the Radisson's restaurants, these would not be considered "Tibetan-related events," the SP added. ¶4. (C) The SP declined to elaborate when pressed to explain the reason for the prohibition. However, the AGM heard from another government official that the gatherings were banned due to heightened sensitivities related to the upcoming visit of Nepal's King to China. King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah left July 9 on his first official visit to China since becoming monarch thirteen months ago (Ref A). ¶5. (C) In previous years, the sponsors of the three cancelled events--the Office of Tibet (the Dalai Lama's Representative),the Mussoorie Alumni Association and the Tibetan Women's Association--have all held events at the Radisson to mark the Dalai Lama's birthday as well as other social occasions such as Tibetan New Year. Radisson management believes these gatherings will be allowed once again after the King's China visit is completed. If they are not permitted, the AGM lamented, the Radisson stands to lose an estimated Nepali Rupees 700,00 (USD 9000) in revenue this year, a considerable sum in Nepal's current depressed economic environment. ¶6. (C) The Dalai Lama's Representative in Nepal, Wangchuk Tsering, was informed only late on July 5 that his July 6 SIPDIS evening reception had been prohibited. Faced with having to notify several hundred invited guests of the cancellation, he scrambled to take out a front-page ad in Nepal's largest-circulation English-language daily, the Kathmandu Post. The ad, which cost N.Rs. 23,000 (USD 300),appeared on the lower right-hand corner of page one. Reaction was uniformly supportive of the Tibetans, Tsering said. Human rights groups contacted him to say that they would take up the issue with Nepali authorities. ¶7. (C) One local ethnic-Tibetan contact called Poloff to comment on the front-page juxtaposition of Tsering's announcement with the text of a U.S. Embassy News Release on the July 5 bombing at the headquarters of the Prime Minister's political party (Ref B). The contact expressed his appreciation that the Embassy's statement read in part, "democracy can flourish only when citizens can meet openly and assemble without the threat of terrorist violence." MALINOWSKI