Tibetans Stage Mass Protest After Fatal Burning
Traditional artist Dorje Dhondup, 25, shouted slogans against Chinese rule and called for the return of Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama before burning himself to death in Rongwo township, the capital of Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) county in the Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the sources said.
The dawn self-immolation attracted a large crowd of monks and residents to the township, with many of them placing the "khata," the traditional Tibetan scarf, on his charred remains as a mark of respect for the father of two, one source said.
Later, several thousand Tibetans converged at a hill site near the key Rongwo monastery as Dorje Dhondup's body was taken there for prayers and immediate cremation to prevent the Chinese authorities from "interfering" with funeral rites, the source said.
“People shouted 'Ki! Ki!,' a Tibetan battle cry, and others raised slogans at the Dhongya-la cremation site where thousands of people gathered to mourn and pay their respect for the deceased and stand in solidarity with the family of Dorjee Dhondup,” the source said.
But his family members pleaded with the crowd to end the protest for fear over their safety, saying Dorje Lungdup set fire to himself to "protect Tibet's interest" and underscore demands for the return of the Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in India since 1958 following a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
“Soon after the self immolation incident, security forces poured into the town and patrolled the streets and the situation was tense," according to the source.
There were no arrests but, according to eyewitnesses cited by sources, security officials warned the Tibetans against spreading the news of the self-immolation, the 63rd since the wave of fiery protests began in February 2009.
Frightened
The Dhongya-lay site was where two other Tibetan self-immolators in
Rongwo were also cremated earlier this year. Those self-immolations in
March had sparked the largest protests in Tibet since deadly riots in
the region in 2008.
"Tibetans in the town say that they are
frightened to go out, reporting large numbers of security forces on the
streets and restrictions on movements in the town. Internet and mobile
communications are being interrupted to prevent the spread of
information," London-based advocacy group Free Tibet said in a
statement.
Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden said more than
half of the Tibetans who torched themselves have only known a Tibet
under Chinese occupation "and still they reject Chinese rule."
“China's
policies in Tibet have failed. Protests in Tibet are escalating ahead
of the change of leadership," she said as Beijing prepares for a
once-in-a decade transition to be endorsed at the 18th ruling Chinese
Communist Party Congress beginning on Thursday.
“Events inside Tibet expose how the 'One China' policy has failed.
The next generation of Communist Party leaders must seize the
opportunity to take a different approach from one which tries to impose
stability by force,” Brigden said.
Rebgong was the scene of
constant student protests in October 2010 against a proposed change in
the language of instruction in schools from Tibetan to Chinese.
Rare UN call
Sunday's
self-immolation came three days after U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay called on China to address the grievances of Tibetans
and sought an end to the self-immolation protests.
“I recognize
Tibetans’ intense sense of frustration and despair which has led them to
resort to such extreme means, but there are other ways to make those
feelings clear,” she said.
In her statement, believed to be among
the most forceful by a top U.N. official in directly addressing the
situation in Tibet, Pillay pointed to “reports of detentions and
disappearances, of excessive use of force against peaceful
demonstrators, and curbs on the cultural rights of Tibetans.”
“I
call on [China’s] government to respect the rights to peaceful assembly
and expression, and to release all individuals detained for merely
exercising these universal rights,” she said.
Cases cited by
Pillay include the beating and imprisonment of a 17-year-old Tibetan
girl who distributed flyers calling for Tibetan freedom and the return
of the Dalai Lama, along with other instances of Tibetans jailed for
writing essays, making films, or sending information about events in
Tibet to contacts outside the region.
Media access to Tibetan
areas should be lifted, Pillay said, and “independent and impartial”
monitors allowed to visit and report on the conditions they observe.
In
addition, Pillay called on China to suspend the forced resettlement of
Tibetan nomads and to review policies encouraging large-scale Han
Chinese migration into ethnic Tibetan areas.
Reported by Palden Gyal for RFA's Tibetan service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.
View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/blaze-11042012105433.html
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