Published by: World Tibet Network News Saturday, December 13, 1997

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (AFP) - Some 15 slogan-shouting young Tibetans stormed a crowded Chinese trade exhibition here Friday, demanding a boycott of goods made in China, witnesses said.

The Tibetans hurriedly distributed dozens of pamphlets and raised anti-China slogans after entering the complex, taking both Chinese officials and Indian visitors by surprise.

The protestors then came out of the hall and shouted more slogans.

Police summoned by the organisers scuffled with the demonstrators before arresting about 10 of them, the witnesses said. There was no violence during the 15-minute drama.

A police officer said "some boys and girls" were in detention. He did not say when they would be released.

"We want independence," the Tibetans shouted. They also called for a boycott of Chinese goods exhibited at the fair, saying they had been made with forced labour.

A large number of Indians quickly gathered near the complex, with some Chinese officials videotaping the protest.

The militant Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC), which organised the demonstration, said thousands of Tibetan prisoners were being forced to produce various goods in Chinese prisons.

"Buying of Chinese goods means more prison labour in Tibet," a TYC statement said.

TYC vice president Karma Yeshi added: "Goods exhibited here include those made by prisoners. Buying them will encourage the Chinese to produce more prison goods.

"This is the reason why Chinese goods are cheap compared to goods from other countries."

The five-day exhibition, which opened Wednesday, is being organised by the China National Machinery Import and Export Corp. and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Around 100 firms are taking part in this first-ever display of Chinese goods in India, with machinery, electronics, chemicals, medicines and clothes among the products being shown.

It was the second anti-China demonstration by the TYC in two days.

On Wednesday, United Nations Human Rights Day, some 50 young Tibetans staged a noisy demonstration near the Chinese embassy here to demand independence for their homeland.

India is home to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader who fled his homeland in 1959 following a failed anti-China uprising, as well as some 100,000 Tibetan exiles.

The Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, not recognised by any country, is based in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala.