KATHMANDU, Oct 1, 2009 (AFP) - At least 38 Tibetan exiles were arrested in Nepal on Thursday on suspicion of planning to hold demonstrations as China marks 60 years of communist rule, police said.

One official said police had arrested 10 Tibetans as they walked along a street in Nepal's capital Kathmandu after receiving reports that they intended to gather for anti-China protests. .

"They will be released after the necessary investigations," sub-inspector Chabiraman Bhattarai told AFP.

Another officer who asked not to be named said police had arrested 38 Tibetans from different parts of the capital on Thursday morning. .

The arrests came as China celebrated 60 years of communist rule with a military parade and lavish ceremonies on Beijing's Tiananmen Square. .

Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans who began arriving in large numbers in 1959 when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising. .

Sandwiched between India and China, Nepal has supported Beijing's 'One China' policy that views Tibet as an integral part of China. .

The government in Kathmandu has come under increasing pressure from Beijing to suppress anti-China activity on its soil, and activists say it has responded by adopting a harder line against the exiles.