SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA. - Local Tibetan groups protested over the exhibition "Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World", which failed to note the Chinese occupation of that country or mention the exile of the Dalai Lama , at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art on Saturday. About 75 members of three groups chanted "shame, shame, Bowers, shame" during the protest while 11 Tibetan Buddhist monks from a monastery in India blew giant horns and performed traditional dances inside the museum commemorating the Tibetan New Year. Demonstrators were protesting the exhibit, consisting of 200 sculptures, paintings, and other artworks never before shown in a Western country. They called for a boycott of a planned national tour of the exhibit, contending that the absence of a reference to Tibet’s occupation reflects the influence of the Chinese government.

China occupied Tibet in 1951 and has refused to consider giving back its autonomy. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, heads a government-in-exile in India. "This is not China," said Tenzin Dhamcho, president of Los Angeles Friends of Tibet. "We live in a free, democratic America. It is truly sad to see that the long arm of Beijing has found its way into our very own backyard." A Bowers spokesman said the museum tried to avoid political references. "We’re in the business of art; we’re not in the business of politics," spokesman Rick Weinberg said. "We have to remain neutral. It’s inappropriate for the Bowers to take a political stance." Inside the museum, monks from the Drepung Gomang Monastery in India did bring a picture of the Dalai Lama with them.