Indian police have arrested dozens of Tibetan activists during a loud and disorderly protest outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi.

Police forcibly dragged away the kicking and screaming protesters, who were demonstrating to call attention to the situation in Tibet, where more than 20 monks and nuns have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese policies.

One young woman appealed for international support as she was being carried away to a waiting bus.

“Free Tibet, Tibet is burning world, please help, support us. UN are you blind, deaf, dumb? Can't you support us? Free Tibet, stop killing in Tibet, stop killing.”

India has the world's largest population of exiled Tibetans, including many who fled their homeland following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, makes his home in the Indian city of Dharamsala.

However Indian authorities are sensitive about anti-Chinese demonstrations on their territory for fear of offending their powerful neighbor.