Police detained nearly two dozen Tibetan exiles Thursday from outside the Chinese embassy in India, where they protested decades of communist rule in their homeland.
The protest came as China celebrated the 60-year anniversary of the People's Republic with a massive parade in Beijing.
Indian police put the protesters chanting "Free Tibet" and waving Tibetan flags into vans and took them to a police station. They were likely to be released later Thursday, said police officer Rajesh, who uses one name.
The protest was organized by the Tibetan Youth Congress, which described communist rule in China as "60 years of violence, lies and oppression" of people of Tibet.
China claims Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries until Chinese troops invaded in the 1950s.
"Just like the Beijing Olympics, this new spectacle put forth by the Communist Party is another attempt to improve China's image in the world and win recognition as a world leader in global affairs," the Tibetan Youth Congress said in a statement.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has lived in northern India since fleeing Tibet following a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
