Hu in,Tibetans inside

Most areas in New Delhi district,especially around the Oberoi Hotel where Hu is staying,were under a security lockdown. A group of 15 Tibetans tried to storm the hotel around 3 pm but were immediately detained by police.

Eighteen companies of police forces,including Rapid Action Force,have been deployed at different points in the Capital,especially near Taj Palace Hotel where the summit will take place.

Senior police officers had stationed themselves near the Oberoi Hotel an hour before the Chinese President’s arrival.

Shops around Tibetan colonies in Majnu Ka Tila and the Buddhist monastery were shut down.

“Many activists managed to evade police cordons and tried to stage protests across the city,” said Tenzin Choekyi of the Tibetan Youth Congress.

Several Tibetan activists were detained outside the United Nations office on Max Mueller Marg in the morning as they planned to hold a demonstration. Detentions were also made near Khan Market,Jantar Mantar and outside the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

“I saw policemen questioning those with features like ours,assuming them to be Tibetans,” said an activist at the hospital gates.

Jigmey Tenzing,a member of Students for a Free Tibet India,said: “We will keep protesting and court arrest. Yeshi’s sacrifice of dying for a free Tibet will not go unnoticed.”

Police removed activist-poet Tenzin Tsundue from a seminar at the India Habitat Centre,calling it “preventive detention”.

“A total of 300 protesters have been lodged at Tihar Jail after being placed under preventive arrest over the last two days,” said Sunil Gupta,spokesperson for Tihar Prisons. The arrests have been made under Section 107/151 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

At Ambedkar Bhawan in Jhandewalan Extension,Tibetan protesters from Darjeeling,Sikkim and Dharamsala,who had booked rooms there,were detained. “A restraining order under Section 3 of the Foreigners Act has been passed at Ambedkar Bhawan until March 30,” a police officer said.

The entrance to the Bhawan is being guarded by local police and paramilitary forces. None of the inmates will be allowed to step out till 9 pm on March 30. Section 144 has been imposed outside the Bhawan to prevent groups of Tibetan activists from protesting.

“Around 190 people had booked rooms there. This was going to be a well-organised protest. So we detained all of them. They are not allowed to go outside. Any violation will lead to prosecution under Section 40 of the Foreigners Act,” a police officer said.