New Delhi, Mar 10 (IANS): About a thousand Indians and Tibetans marched here Sunday seeking freedom for Tibet -- to mark the 54th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight to India.

Waving Tibetan flags and Dalai Lama photographs, the demonstrators walked from Rajghat, Mahatama Gandhi's memorial, to Jantar Mantar in the heart of the capital.

Half the marchers were Indians and the other half Tibetans.

"We are thankful to the Indian people that they stand up for us," said 26-year-old Tashi, a Tibetan student at Delhi University.

Another Tibetan, Tenzin, who said he was a chef at a hotel, said: "We are protesting against the Chinese government as they have seized our land. We want freedom."

An Indian activist, N.K. Trikha, told IANS: "There is an attempt by China to destroy the Tibetan identity... No wonder Tibetans are killing themselves."

As many as 107 Tibetans have committed self immolation in recent times, protesting against the alleged denial of human rights in Tibet, Trikha said.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after Chinese troops overran his homeland. He has since lived in India at the head of a government-in-exile that is not recognized by any country.

India is also home to some 100,000 Tibetans.