Police in Nepal said Sunday they have detained at least 300 Tibetan protesters outside the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu.

The protesters were quickly bundled into waiting vans as they tried to march towards the main gate of the embassy shouting "China liar, Free Tibet," an AFP reporter at the scene said.

"We have rounded up more than 300 Tibetans," Ramesh Thapa, a senior police officer told AFP, saying the demonstrators would be released later in the day.

Some 150 police and several police vans had surrounded the building before the protesters arrived in the area.

Kathmandu has seen almost daily anti-China protests since unrest erupted in the remote Himalayan region in March.

Nepalese officials have repeatedly said no anti-China activity will be allowed as they seek to preserve friendly ties with their giant northern neighbour.

Last month, Human Rights Watch accused Nepal -- home to about 20,000 exiled Tibetans -- of caving in to pressure from China by using excessive force and arbitrarily arresting hundreds of Tibetan protesters.