Anti-Chinese unrest spreading through Tibetan regions reached the capital, Beijing, today when Tibetan students at the National Minorities University staged a sit-in.

About 100 students braved a cordon of police to hold a demonstration, apparently in support of Tibetans who have been demonstrating since last Monday in Lhasa, capital of the Himalayan regions, and many other towns to demand greater religious freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama.

The students sat cross-legged on the ground in a circle near a tennis court at the centre of the campus. Their heads were bowed and a mass of glowing candles spread out in front of them. The students maintained complete silence and ignored teachers and university leaders who tried to persuade them to disperse.

Police, both uniformed and plainclothed, stood around the students but took no action. They did not allow anyone to approach the group. Police were deployed at entrances to the university, checking identity cards of anyone going in.

The demonstration is one of very few to be staged by students in Beijing since the 1989 protests centred in Tiananmen Square ended in a bloody crackdown. The unusually courageous display in the city that is the seat of Chinese power is the first reported unrest by Tibetans outside the regions of China where many live.

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