KATHMANDU, May 5 (Reuters) - Nepali police beat up pro-Tibet protesters in Kathmandu on Monday and detained at least 125 people as demonstrators tried to storm the Chinese embassy demanding freedom for their Himalayan homeland.

The protesters were dragged into waiting police vehicles before driving away to detention centres.

"China thief leave the country," the protesters, some of them monks, shouted in Nepali. "Stop killing in Tibet ... free Tibet," they demanded.

Exiled Tibetans have been protesting regularly ever since deadly riots broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in March, followed by demonstrations in other Tibetan areas of China.

Many Tibetans are furious over the crackdown against protesters in Tibet and resent China's decades-old rule of the Himalayan region.

The Lhasa riot broke out after days of protests centred on the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

More than 20,000 Tibetans have been living in Nepal since fleeing after the failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Nepal regards Tibet as part of China, which provides considerable financial assistance for its economic development. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Bappa Majumdar)

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