The women were herded into buses and trucks and taken to detention centres before they even began to march against Chinese repression in Tibet.

They planned three separate rallies in the Nepalese capital Katmandu but were headed off by cops.

Tibetan exiles have launched almost daily demos for the past two months.

Protester Doma Tsomo said: "We wanted a peaceful, silent march, but the arrests began before we even started."

The UN and human rights groups have criticised Nepal for using excessive force to stop the demonstrations.