14 Tibetans detained for protesting against India-China talks

A group of 14 Tibetan activists were detained here Thursday for staging a protest outside Hyderabad House where the foreign ministers of India and China were holding discussions, police said.

Holding Tibetan flags, the activists, including women, were draped in green and yellow ‘Free Tibet’ jackets and held placards condemning China. They also shouted slogans.

“China should give us our freedom first. This meeting is of no use. This is a mockery,” said one of the protesters.

Delhi Police gathered the protesters in a bus and took them to a nearby police station.

“We have detained 14 Tibetan protesters,” said a police official.

The activists had gathered outside Hyderabad House as External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna held delegation-level talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi to strengthen strategic partnership and firm up the agenda for the forthcoming visit of President Hu Jintao to India for the BRICS summit March-end.

The two ministers reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relationship and discussed issues that will figure in bilateral talks between the Chinese president and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the margins of the BRICS summit.

India will host the summit of the leaders of the five emerging economies of BRICS — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in New Delhi March 29.

India has given an undertaking to China that it will not allow its soil to be used for anti-China activities.