"Blood" Olympics protested in India and Nepal

By Bappa Majumdar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Police detained hundreds of angry Tibetan refugees who tried to storm Chinese consular offices in the capitals of India and Nepal shortly before the Olympic Games opened in Beijing on Friday.

In New Delhi, nearly 3,000 Tibetans shouting anti-China slogans braved heavy rains to protest near India's parliament against the Olympics being staged by China.

"China is not the right place to hold Olympics, it is a blood Olympics, it is a shame Olympics," shouted Kalsang Tsering, a Tibetan protester.

But a small Chinese immigrant community in the eastern city of Kolkata celebrated the Olympics with a dragon dance and feasts. Many in the city's Chinatown watched the opening on special giant screens.

"We are having a grand feast for 1,200 people after the opening ceremony," said Chen Khir Kui, a Chinese businessman.

In Kathmandu, Nepali police detained more than 1,300 Tibetan refugees who tried to storm a Chinese consular office.

More than 100 protesters were also detained in New Delhi after they tried to enter the Chinese embassy.

They were stopped by armed policemen after they broke through a barricade and were bundled into waiting vans and taken away.