Tibetans burn Chinese flag in Indian capital

NEW DELHI, Nov 13 (AFP) - Tibetan exiles on Saturday burned Chinese flags and staged a rally in the Indian capital to demand the release of a "spiritual teacher" allegedly held by the Chinese security forces.

Some 300 demonstrators from the Tibetan Youth Congress were prevented from reaching the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, the police said, adding the rally was largely peaceful.

The marchers, mostly women, shouted anti-Beijing slogans and urged the United Nations to help in the release of Phuntsok and 80 other Tibetans allegedly arrested during a rally last month in their Himalayan homeland.

"UN don't sleep... don't sleep," the Tibetans screamed. They set on fire some one dozen Chinese national flags at a police barricade near the Indian parliament.

The Youth Congress quoting reliable sources in Tibet say that Chinese forces arrested 80 people after a demonstration by 3,000 Tibetans in the eastern district of Karze on October 31.

"Tibetan people strongly support the peaceful demonstration by the Tibetans in Karze demanding the immediate release of Sonam Phutsok," the Congress said in a statement.

"The Tibetan Youth Congress also appeals to the international community ... to put pressure on the Chinese to respect human rights of Tibetan people and release all political prisoners," it added.

Some 100,000 Tibetans followed their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama to India after Beijing using military force crushed an anti-Chinese rebellion in Tibet in 1959.