The Chinese government has detained several hundred Tibetans returning from India after attending teaching sessions overseen by the Dalai Lama and is forcing them to undergo political re-education, a human rights group said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said it believed it was the first time since the late 1970s that the authorities had detained Tibetan laypeople in such large numbers and it comes as China frets about unrest in Tibetan parts of the country.