Two Tibetan
Monks Self-Immolate on Crackdown Anniversary
March 16, 2014: Two Tibetan monks set
themselves on fire Sunday on the sixth anniversary of a deadly crackdown by
Chinese authorities on Tibetans that had sparked an unending spate of
self-immolation protests against Beijing's rule, according to exile sources.
Lobsang Palden, 20,
from the restive Kirti monastery in Sichuan province's Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba)
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, self-immolated in Ngaba county while another
monk, whose name was not immediately available, set himself on fire in Tsekhog (Zeku)
county in Qinghai province's Malho (Huangnan)Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the
sources said.
Palden
self-immolated on the main road in Ngaba county which was renamed in 2012 by
Tibetans as "Heroes Street" after it became a regular venue for
burning protests against Chinese rule, according to Tibetan exile monks Kanyak
Tsering and Lobsang Yeshi, based in India's northern hill town Dharamsala.
The monks, citing
local contacts, said Palden self-immolated to protest "against the violent
crackdown on the Tibetans" on March 16, 2008 in Ngaba when Chinese police
opened fire on a crowd of Tibetans, killing at least 10, including one monk.
The crackdown had
agitated Tibetans in the area and sparked a spree of burning protests, the
number of which reached 129 on Sunday, sources said.
Tibetans have been
marking the Ngaba crackdown anniversary by staging self-immolation protests
over the last four years.
Protest slogans
Palden shouted
protest slogans as he walked while he was on fire before Chinese security forces
rushed to the scene and doused the flames and took him away, Tsering and Yeshi
said.
"When [Palden]
set himself on fire and walked several steps shouting slogans, several police
arrived, put out the flames, forced him into a small vehicle and took him
away," Tsering and Yeshi said in a statement to RFA's Tibetan Service.
Details such as his
condition and where he had been taken to are not immediately available.
Palden left behind
a written and voice message calling for unity among Tibetans and sincerity in
whatever they strive to achieve, Tsering and Yeshi said. "He also thanked
his mother and relatives for their love and affection," they said.
All Tibetan-owned
restaurants and shops in Ngaba were closed Sunday "to express solidarity
with the self immolator," they said.
"There is a
huge presence of both armed and unarmed police forces in Ngaba town,"
Tsering and Yeshi said.
Self-immolation in Qinghai
In the other
self-immolation on Sunday, a monk set himself on fire outside the Sonag
monastery in Tsekhog county's Jador township, exile sources said.
His name and other
details of the incident are not available.
"The local
authorities immediately blocked the Internet, mobile phone and [micro-messaging
service] WeChat communications" immediately after the burning protest, a
Tibetan exile source based in Europe told RFA's Mandarin Service.
A Tibetan in the
area told RFA's Tibetan Service that after the self-immolation, he was not
allowed to enter the Sonag monastery by Chinese security forces who he said had
surrounded the institution.
Sunday's burnings
brings the number of self-immolations this year to four.
Two fatal
self-immolations occurred last month — one in Ngaba and the other in Tsekhog.
Chinese authorities
have tightened controls in a bid to check self-immolation protests in Tibetan
populated areas, arresting and jailing Tibetans whom they accuse of being
linked to the burnings. Some have been jailed for up to 15 years.
Reported by Lumbum Tashi and Yangdon
Demo for RFA's Tibetan Service and Dan Zhen for the Mandarin Service.
Translated by Karma Dorjee and Ping Chen. Written in English by Parameswaran
Ponnudurai.
View this story online
at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/burning-03162014125839.html
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