TOKYO (AFP) — Pro-Tibet protesters tried to break through a police line guarding the Chinese embassy as they gathered in the Australian capital to mark the 50th anniversary Tuesday of a failed uprising against China.
Tensions flared when about a dozen activists tried to breach the line during a march from Parliament House in support of Tibetan independence and there was a heated exchange between the demonstrators and an embassy official when he came out to photograph the group.
Police told AFP they made four arrests for breach of the peace, including one man who threw his shoes at the building.
About 150 people converged on Parliament House ahead of the march for a peaceful rally in support of Tibetan independence from China.
Bearing flags and banners, they were joined by representatives from Australia's major political parties.
Greens leader Bob Brown called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to declare what he said was widespread Australian support for Tibetan autonomy.
"What we need is political leaders... who have got the gumption to reflect that Australian call to the Chinese dictators to give Tibet back its freedom, its peace and its rights," Brown told the rally.
"Today is a day to celebrate the strength of the Tibetan people and their perseverance, and to commit ourselves to continuing the struggle," added Tibetan community spokesman Tsewang Thupten.
"We are also commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and millions who are still under the Chinese occupation."
Last year's Olympic torch relay leg through Canberra was marred by scuffles between pro-Tibet and pro-China groups, with 10,000 China supporters flooding the capital.
The city's top official said China had orchestrated the mass turnout to swamp pro-Tibet supporters, of which there were about 2,000, in a bid to ensure a trouble-free passage for the torch.
Rudd won praise during a visit to Beijing last April for publicly raising human rights concerns in Tibet, and urging the Chinese government to meet with exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Japanese Buddhists started a day of prayers meetings Tuesday to remember the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule and to mourn for those killed.
Dozens of monks and others held a pro-Tibet candle vigil Monday evening and a prayer meeting early Tuesday in Hiroshima, one of the cities devastated by a US atomic bomb during World War II, organiser Shojiro Nomura told AFP.
Monks in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo and other cities also planned to pray for peace in Tibet, to show their support for its people, and mourn the dead from past unrest, both Tibetans and Chinese, said one of the monks, Joyu Akagawa.
"After the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan unrest last year, some Japanese Buddhist monks began to feel we should do something to offer helping hands to our fellow Tibetan monks and people," Akagawa said.
Last year, monks at an ancient Japanese Buddhist temple in Nagano pulled out of hosting a ceremony for the protest-marred Olympic torch relay.
Several hundred members of civic groups joined a pro-Tibet rally in Tokyo last Saturday and are planning another rally this weekend.
In an address marking the anniversary, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama reiterated his demand for "legitimate and meaningful autonomy" for Tibet and accused China of bloody repression in the Himalayan region.
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