More Tibetan Self Immolations

August 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“As a human being, you try to dissuade them,” says Lobsang Sangay, prime minister of the exiled Tibetan government. “As a Buddhist, you pray for them. As a Tibetan, you show your solidarity with their reasons.” DW

On Monday, … Tibetan rights groups claimed that a 20-year-old monk Lungtok, and a 21-year-old former monk Tashi, 21, set themselves on fire in Aba prefecture of Sichuan. Lungtok died whereas Tashi was hospitalized with severe injuries.
After the self-immolations, which took place around 6pm local time, a clash broke out between ethnic Tibetan protesters and the police. The rights groups said the police tried to block the area and took away two Tibetans. According to the independent media reports, the clash left one protester dead.

See DW for more

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Tibetans in India Not Letting Up During Hu Jintao Visit

March 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

In Delhi’s Tibetan districts, residents have been on “defacto house arrest,” Jim Yardley writes for The New York Times. More than 250 Tibetan activists have been jailed “under preventive custody,” he writes.

Police officials are stationed every few yards along the city’s arteries, keeping their eyes peeled for residents of Tibetan ethnicity, and detaining those who attempt to reach the hotel Hu Jintao was scheduled to stay in. Nonetheless, activists circulated text messages Thursday morning saying they planned a protest in front of the hotel where the summit will be held.  Sruthi Gottipati  NY Times blog in Dehli

A Tibetan woman was detained during a protest in New Delhi on Wednesday : Kevin Frayer/Associated Press

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Another Immolation over China in Tibet

March 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“A Tibetan exile lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a demonstration in the Indian capital Monday, just ahead of a visit by China’s president and amid a series of self-immolations done inside Tibet to protest Beijing’s rule.

Indian police, who had already tightened security in New Delhi for President Hu Jintao’s visit, swept through the protest a few hours later, detaining scores of Tibetans.

The man apparently had doused himself with something highly flammable and was engulfed in flames when he ran past the podium where speakers were criticizing China and Hu’s visit…”

 

Article

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Tibetan Immolations Reach 30

March 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“A farmer became the 30th Tibetan to self-immolate in protest over Chinese rule on Saturday [17 March 2012] as he set himself ablaze and died in northwestern Qinghai province, drawing several thousand Tibetans to his funeral.

Sonam Thargyal drank kerosene and poured the fuel over his cotton-padded body before setting himself alight, dying minutes later as his body was swiftly consumed by the flames, local Tibetan sources and an exile group with contacts in the region said. He was 44.

The self-immolation occurred early Saturday [17 March 2012] at the main road near the Gangri Hotel and Thume Cultural Center in Qinghai’s Rebkong (in Chinese, Tongren) county in Malho (in Chinese, Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

This is the second self-immolation in three days in Rebkong…

from UNPO

Australia is requesting permission for its Ambassador to China to visit the Tibetan areas “to see for herself the grievances” which have driven so many to such drastic protests.

Campaign for Tibet keeps an updated fact sheet on those who have died.

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Eastern Tibet under lockdown following self-immolation of three Tibetan herders

February 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“The Serthar area of eastern Tibet remains under tight lockdown after three Tibetan herders, including a 60-year old man, set themselves on fire on Friday (February 3). This brings the total number of self-immolations by Tibetans in Tibet since February 2009 to 20.

The three self-immolations by Tibetan herders are the first by laypeople in Tibetan areas – the 17 Tibetans who self-immolated since February 27, 2009, have been mainly monks or former monks, and include two nuns. (ICT self-immolation fact sheet). The Tibetans who set fire to themselves in Serthar are also older than most others who have self-immolated, with one of them being 60 years old. Most of the self-immolations have been carried out by Tibetans in their late teens and early twenties, with the exception of Lama Sobha, the first reincarnate Tibetan religious figure to self-immolate

TibetCustom.com and CampaignForTibet.

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More Tibetan Immolations

January 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The Hindustan Times, and other outlets are reporting another self immolation by Tibetans, protesting China’s heavy hand and the exile of the Dalai Lama.

Chinese security forces on Saturday fired into a crowd of Tibetans in Sichuan Province as they tried to take away the body of a Tibetan man who died after self-immolation. This was claimed by reports from two Tibet advocacy groups and Tibetan officials in the exile government in India.

It appeared that at least two people had been hit by gunfire, and one of those might have been killed, said Kate Saunders, spokesperson for International Campaign for Tibet, which is based in Washington.

Hindustan Times

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More Self Immolations in Tibet

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Three Tibetan monks in central China set themselves on fire this weekend, raising to 15 the number of suicides in the last year by Buddhist clergy members protesting aspects of Beijing’s rule in Tibet.

 

NY Times

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