Published by World Tibet Network News - Saturday, 2 December 1995

NEW DELHI, Dec 2 (Reuter) - About 100 Tibetans protested in the Indian capital on Saturday against Beijing's choice of a six-year-old boy as the second holiest figure of the Tibetan community.

"We, the Tibetans living in Delhi, condemn and reject the fake Panchen Lama announced by the Chinese communist regime on November 29," the protesters, belonging to the Tibetan Freedom Movement, said in a statement.

The communist Chinese government announced "soul boy" Gyaincain Norbu from Tibet had been identified as the reincarnation of the late Panchen Lama.

Tibet's god-king, the Dalai Lama, announced in May his recognition of six-year-old Gedhun Choeki Nyima as the boy who had received the spirit of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in January 1989.

The Buddhist spritual leader has been living in exile in India's Himalayan town of Dharamshala since 1959 along with thousands of his followers after an abortive uprising against the Chinese annexation of Tibet in 1950.

Saturday's protesters, including women and schoolchildren, carrying pictures of Nyima walked through the main streets of New Delhi and raised slogans against the Chinese decision.

"By history, well established conventions and tradition, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is the only person who has the right and spiritual authority to recognise the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama," the statement said.

Although Nyima emerged from a Beijing-sanctioned search by senior lamas and was expected to be approved by China, the Dalai Lama's unilateral move enraged China, which rejected his choice.