The Tibetan protesters on the Bengal side of Rangpo on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Rangpo, March 24: Around 400 protesters on their way to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) through Nathu-la in East Sikkim were denied entry to the Himalayan state today.

The protesters led by North East Zonal Tibetan Youth Congress have launched a hunger strike which, they said, will continue till they get permission to enter Sikkim. Earlier, they demonstrated on NH31A, blocking traffic for an hour.

Two barricades manned by armed police in riot gear were stationed along the 100m bridge here that connects Bengal and Sikkim. The Tibetans were told that in the absence of the Inner Line Permit (ILP), required by non-Indians, they could not enter Sikkim. Most of the protesters have refugee status since they have not applied for Indian citizenship.

Senior adminsitrative officials, including the deputy inspector-general of the Sikkim police, Akshay Sachdeva, had reached Rangpo, 40km from here, around 10am. The protesters arrived an hour later.

District collector (East Sikkim) Vishal Chauhan confirmed that absence of ILP was the reason why most of the second and third generation Tibetans in exile were denied entry. Bengal chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said despite many of them being born in India, the Tibetans have to apply for Indian citizenship, failing which their refugee status would remain.

What followed was an hour of demonstration and burning of Chinese flags and effigies of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Anti-Chinese and Free Tibet slogans rent the air. However, the protests were peaceful and the volunteers of the Tibetan Congress prevented the situation from spiralling out of control with the Sikkim and Bengal police having to do little.

Traffic on NH31A that connects Sikkim to Bengal was stopped for an hour. Later, the protesters withdrew from the road and started the indefinite fast.

“The hunger strike will continue till the Sikkim government gives us permission to enter the state,” said Ugyen Tsawang, general secretary of the organisation. “We are determined to enter Tibet through Nathu-la and join our brothers and sisters in the fight against the Chinese authorities.”

The TAR has been periodically restive since Chinese troops invaded it in 1950. Nine years later, the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiritual leader, staged a failed uprising against the Chinese rule and fled into exile in India. China’s role in Tibet has become a focus for critics in the run-up to the Olympics with global marches held last week to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against the Communist rule. Those marches apparently galvanised Buddhist monks to take to Lhasa’s streets, triggering a crackdown. Unconfirmed reports from Tibetan exile groups have put the death toll at 100.

The march to Nathu-la from Siliguri started on March 20 and is part of the “back to Tibet” programme.

The Sikkim police are also keeping a watch on the 400 odd Tibetans settled in Sherathang and Kupup near the Nathu-la border.

The reopening of border trade through Nathu-la two years ago was seen as a renewal of bilateral ties and friendship between India and China. Trade through the pass had closed down after the Chinese aggression in 1962. Sikkim has indirectly been one of the unifying forces for this renewed friendship and is determined to avoid any untoward incident that might embarrass its status, especially since China had officially recognised the Himalayan state as part of India after the resumption of trade.

The border trade for this year is scheduled to start from May 1 and traders are already worried about the impact the recent developments will have on it.