New Delhi - Indian police arrested six Tibetan activists who have been on a hunger strike for nine days to protest the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the "occupation" of Tibet by China, a Tibetan Youth Congress official said Wednesday.

"The six activists, mostly monks, were arrested in Delhi late on Tuesday night," Tsewang Rigzin, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress, said.

He said a large posse of policemen picked up the activists, who were on an indefinite hunger strike in the Indian capital's Jantar Mantar area, and took them to the state-run Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, where they were being treated.

"They went days without food and water and some of them were in critical condition," he said.

A large group of activists formed a human chain to prevent police from reaching the hunger strikers' tent, Rigzin said. "They were overpowered by the police and 86 of them were arrested. We are now negotiating for their release."

Rigzin said a fresh group of six activists had started a hunger strike Tuesday night at the same spot. "There are five monks and one layperson. An Indian lady from Chennai, who supports our cause, has also joined them."

New Delhi police official Anand Mohan said the activists were arrested after they refused to listen to pleas to give up their hunger strike. "Their health had deteriorated," he said.

The Tibetan Youth Congress, an organization of young Tibetan refugees, had earlier appealed to world leaders to boycott Friday's opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

"No doubt that the Chinese people deserve to host the Olympic Games, but what the Tibetan and Chinese people deserve more is freedom," the group said in a statement.

India is home to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, as well as more than 100,000 Tibetan refugees, estimated to be the largest concentration outside Tibet.

Tibetan refugee groups in India have been holding protests during the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, saying they want to use the occasion to draw international attention to China's human rights violations in Tibet.

An umbrella forum of four Tibetan organizations are planning to hold "peaceful protests" in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, where the Dalai Lama is based, from Thursday to Saturday. (dpa)