Tibetan monks prepare to attend a prayer meeting for tourists at a temple in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, China, July 19, 2012.
December 03, 2012
Tibetan sources tell VOA that another person has set himself on fire in western China as part of a protest against Chinese rule in ethnic Tibetan areas.
Sources say a 29-year-old monk, Lobsang Gendun, had his hands clasped in prayer as flames engulfed him Monday evening. Witnesses in Qinghai province say the monk shouted slogans as he died, but they say they could not clearly hear what he was saying.
Local Tibetans are reported to have taken the late monk’s body to his monastery Penag Kadak Troedreling Monastery in Seley Thang after a minor scuffle with Chinese security forces. The security personnel had tried to confiscate the monk’s body.
At least 92 Tibetans have self-immolated in western China since 2009, with 28 cases reported in November alone. The acceleration in self-immolations has coincided with Tibetans staging several anti-China rallies, despite a heavy Chinese security presence.
Beijing accuses the India-based Dalai Lama of inciting the self-immolations to promote Tibetan separatism – a charge he denies. Speaking last week in India, the Dalai Lama said totalitarian forms of government are on the decline globally, and he urged China’s Communist rulers to act according to what he called the “new reality.”
