‘Tibetan breaches Wen security’
(The Telegraph | April 10, 2005)
Bangalore, April 10::
A Tibetan breached the security cordon at the Indian Institute
of Science here and shouted anti-China slogans during the Chinese
Premier's interaction with scientists today.
Tenzing Tsundue, general secretary of an organisation called Friends
of Tibet, sent the city police and security personnel into a tizzy
for 20 minutes.
He shouted "Free Tibet" and "Wen Jiabao, you
cannot silence us" from the balcony of a 200-ft-high tower
over the administrative block, the meeting venue, and called out
his name to the media.
He also hurled hundreds of pamphlets in English and Kannada —
thrice headlined "Let there be peace in Tibet",
waved a flag of Tibet, and unfurled a red banner that
read "Free Tibet".
"We want to tell Wen Jiabao that there will be no peace in
Tibet unless the Chinese leave and start living as a neighbour,
as they used to be for thousands of years. So, let there be peace
in Tibet," the pamphlets read.
His slogans in English were interspersed with statements in Hindi:
"Tibet ki azadi hona chahiye (Tibet should be set free)"
and "China pachas salon main hamare bahuth sare logon ko maar
dala (China killed several Tibetans over 50 years)."
Tenzing, who staged a similar protest atop Hotel Oberoi in Mumbai
during the visit of Wen's predecessor, Zhu Rongji, was
arrested after some wrestling with five policemen.
The city police and IISc director Goverdhan Mehta blamed each other
for the security lapse.
"This is unfortunate. I got to know about it (the Tibetan
incident) after the meeting. It is the duty of the city police to
sanitise the venue before VIPs' arrival," Mehta said.
Two additional commissioners of police, who saw the protest, said
IISc had assured a thorough security check ahead of the meeting.
"We have just taken him into custody. We will look into the
matter," Bangalore police commissioner Siddaiah Mariswamy said.
Chief minister Dharam Singh later ordered a probe into the security
breach.
Yesterday, the city police detained two leaders of the Regional
Tibetan Youth Congress in a bid to thwart mobilisation of refugees
for a protest rally during Wen's visit.
Unfortunate: Delhi
India has described as "unfortunate" the protest by a
Tibetan youth at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore when
Wen was interacting with scientists.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
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