Tibetan Breaches Wen's Security
(Indo-Asian News Service | April 10, 2005)

(Associated Press Photos by Gautam Singh)

Bangalore, India: Breaching the security of visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Indian Institute of Science here Sunday, a Tibetan climbed the institute's administrative building to throw pamphlets protesting against Chinese occupation of Tibet.

The incident occurred even as Wen and his high-profile delegation were holding discussions with the directors of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and five other science and technology institutes on the second day of his visit to Bangalore.

When `Friends of Tibet (India)' general secretary Tenzin Tsundue appeared atop the administrative building's tower, the police swung into action and arrested him for breaching the VVIP security zone.

While Tenzin was being whisked away by the police, he waved a Tibetan flag and shouted slogans: "Free Tibet" and "Wen Jiabao, you cannot silence us". He also screamed in Hindi: "Tibet ki azadi hona chahiye."

Asked about Tenzin's entry into the IISc campus during the high-profile visit of Wen, IISc director Govardhan Mehta told reporters it was the duty of the city police to sanitise the high-security area.

Titled "Let there be peace in Tibet", the pamphlet explained why a group of Tibetans and their supporters in India were protesting when Wen was visiting the country and at a time when India was in the process of improving its ties with Mainland China.

"We want to tell Wen 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 pamphlet said.

Bangalore Police Commissioner S. Marisamy told IANS on phone that an inquiry would be ordered into the serious lapse in security.

"We have just taken him into custody and are looking into the matter," he added.

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