Dozens of Russian Buddhists gathered outside China's embassy in Moscow on Tuesday as part of a protest against Beijing's treatment of a 10-year-old boy they see as Tibet's second holiest figure.

The Buddhists, which said they were on a one-day hunger strike, recognise the child as the 11th Panchen Lama, who was picked by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. China has picked its own Panchen Lama, which many Tibetans regard to be a fake, and the one chosen by the Dalai Lama has been held under virtual house arrest since 1995. "I am here because I do not want children to be in prison," said Boris Beslepkin, a pensioner, who had gathered with around 50 other people outside the embassy. They held banners saying "Freedom to Tibet" and "Freedom to the Panchen Lama". The Panchen Lama is the second highest spiritual authority in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. The Chinese embassy rejected the protest, saying that the boy called the Panchen Lama by Beijing was recognised by "secular and religious Tibetans". "As for the fate of the person allegedly recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, he is attending school...enjoying all his rights and freedoms according to the Chinese constitution," the embassy said in a statement.