Kathmandu - A group of Tibetans went on hunger strike in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu Tuesday demanding an end to the crackdown Tibet by Chinese authorities. The new protest came a day after the Nepalese police cracked down on Tibetan demonstrators in front of UN office building in Kathmandu in which more than 50 protesters were briefly detained.
"We will continue to our hunger strike until our demands are met," Nyima Dolkar said with tears rolling down her face. "We are demanding human rights in Tibet and release of all political prisoners.
"We want to draw the attention of the United Nations and international bodies to the plight of our people in Tibet," she said.
The hunger strike was supported by dozens of women and about 60 monks who chanted prayers to show solidarity with the people in Tibet.
Nepal has a large Tibetan population who arrived in the country in the late 1950s and early 1960s after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama fled Lhasa following an abortive uprising.
Most of those who arrived during that period were resettled in Kathmandu and Pokhara in west Nepal and granted citizenship.
But the Nepalese government has refused to recognize new arrivals as refugees.
According to US-based Human Rights Watch, as many as 3,000 Tibetans risk their lives annually, coming over the Himalayas into Nepal.
