QUOTE
MUMBAI, India - A Tibetan activist protesting against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region set himself on fire Thursday outside a hotel where China's president was staying. An official later said the activist was not seriously injured.
Several policemen quickly jumped on Tsering, rolled him on the ground and doused the flames.
Mumbai police commissioner A. N. Roy said Tsering, who claimed to be the head of the Tibetan Youth Congress in the southern city of Bangalore, was not seriously wounded.
Separately, some 250 Tibetans held a protest in another part of Mumbai, which was formerly known as Bombay, chanting "Free Tibet" and "Down with China."
China's President Hu Jintao arrived in India on Monday for a four-day visit and was to leave for Pakistan later Thursday.
Up until Thursday, Indian authorities had successfully prevented protests that could embarrass Hu, throwing up heavy police cordons everywhere he went.
India became a center for Tibetan exiles after their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled there in 1959 after a failed uprising.
The protesters have singled out Hu, who governed the Tibetan region between 1988 and 1992, saying he had adopted a repressive stance toward the region.
Tibet's history is steeped in dispute. Beijing says it has been Chinese territory for centuries, but Tibet was effectively independent for centuries. That ended in 1950 when communist troops arrived.
Hu's visit to India was the first by a Chinese president in a decade.
While India and China have agreed to try and double their bilateral trade by 2010 to $40 billion, India has expressed reservations about lifting tariffs and restrictions, fearing that an influx of cheaper Chinese goods could harm its manufacturing sector.
Several policemen quickly jumped on Tsering, rolled him on the ground and doused the flames.
Mumbai police commissioner A. N. Roy said Tsering, who claimed to be the head of the Tibetan Youth Congress in the southern city of Bangalore, was not seriously wounded.
Separately, some 250 Tibetans held a protest in another part of Mumbai, which was formerly known as Bombay, chanting "Free Tibet" and "Down with China."
China's President Hu Jintao arrived in India on Monday for a four-day visit and was to leave for Pakistan later Thursday.
Up until Thursday, Indian authorities had successfully prevented protests that could embarrass Hu, throwing up heavy police cordons everywhere he went.
India became a center for Tibetan exiles after their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled there in 1959 after a failed uprising.
The protesters have singled out Hu, who governed the Tibetan region between 1988 and 1992, saying he had adopted a repressive stance toward the region.
Tibet's history is steeped in dispute. Beijing says it has been Chinese territory for centuries, but Tibet was effectively independent for centuries. That ended in 1950 when communist troops arrived.
Hu's visit to India was the first by a Chinese president in a decade.
While India and China have agreed to try and double their bilateral trade by 2010 to $40 billion, India has expressed reservations about lifting tariffs and restrictions, fearing that an influx of cheaper Chinese goods could harm its manufacturing sector.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061123/ap_on_...dia_china_tibet
Thanks Nehru for totally abandoning the Tibetan people in their time of need.
