Tibetan monks to China: "We want more freedom, more human rights and we want to see the Dalai Lama"

From an article on the AFP web site:

BEIJING (AFP) — A small group of monks at a major Tibetan Buddhist monastery in northwest China defied authorities and staged a protest in front of foreign reporters on Wednesday, a witness and state media said.

About 15 monks from the Labrang monastery in Gansu province approached the journalists carrying banners and voicing support for exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, said the witness, who was on a government-controlled media tour.

"They said in Chinese, 'We want more freedom, more human rights and we want to see the Dalai Lama'," said Caroline Puel, a journalist with France's Le Point magazine.

The protest lasted about 10 minutes and ended when government officials conducting the tour urged the foreign journalists to leave.

China's official Xinhua news agency also confirmed that a group of monks had "interrupted" the media tour, but gave few other details.

• Read the entire article on the AFP web site