Seven more Tibetan protestors arrested

New Delhi, March 30 (IANS) Seven more Tibetan activists were arrested Friday outside the hotel where Chinese President Hu Jintao was staying, prompting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha to call for a "more humane" police force.

The arrests came an hour before Hu was supposed to leave central Delhi's Oberoi Hotel for Cambodia, his next stop after the BRICS summit in the capital, said a spokesperson for Students For a Free Tibet (SFT).

Dorjee Tsetan, director of the India chapter of the SFT, was amongst the seven protestors. He said the group, including three girls, jumped off a bus outside the hotel and shouted anti-China slogans before police overpowered them.

"Just as the Indians successfully threw off the chains of British rule, we Tibetans are protesting here today for the freedom of our homeland from China's colonial oppression," Tsetan told IANS.

The protestors had painted slogans on their bodies.

The protestors were taken to the Lajpat Nagar police station and released after a few hours, a police official said.

According to SFT, 29 activists have been arrested in various protests in the last two days. All have been released.

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha condemned the indiscriminate actions of the police.

Addressing members of the Tibetan parliament in exile and mediapersons at his residence here, Sinha said: "It's very sad to see what has happened. Not only Tibetans, people from northeast and Ladakh were also harassed by the police."

Sinha said such racial profiling was "completely avoidable" and added that the police should have been "more humane".

He also Tibetan protestors to avoid self-immolations and condoled the death of Jamphel Yeshi, the Tibetan protestor who immolated himself Monday, ahead of Hu's arrival for the summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa Thursday.

"Please live. You can't achieve your goals by killing yourself. That's my message for all the young Tibetan men and women," he said.

He said there was an all-party group in the Indian parliament which "actively promotes the Tibetan cause".