TIBETANS MARK MARCH 10 WITH PEACEFUL CEREMONY;

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 NEPAL'>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