Young Monk Self-Immolation Sparks Protest in Tibet

Dharamshala: A young Tibetan monk by the name of Phuntsok has been killed after setting himself on fire in Sichuan province (Amdo) in protest against the recent Chinese crackdown on Tibetan dissent and personal freedoms, igniting a major street protest against police in the main market.

According to Kate Saunders of the London-based International Campaign for Tibet, the 21-year-old monk from Kirti monastery in Ngaba "immolated himself in protest against the crackdown". Zorgyi, a researcher for the organisation, added that "We've also received widespread information about a protest with nearly 1,000 monks and lay people that came after."

Witnesses claim the fire was extinguished and Phuntsok was beaten by police until his death moments later, and that he could be heard shouting slogans about freedom right up until the end.

Hundreds of Tibetans are said to have been arrested following the angry protest with many suffering injuries caused by electric batons and iron rods used by Chinese soldiers, mirroring the uprising that took place all across Tibet just prior to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, which also marked the anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day (March 10, 1959).

On this occasion in Lhasa, mass demonstrations occurred in the Tibetan capital involving thousands of people and were brutally crushed by Chinese armed forces. At least 19 people, mostly Han Chinese, were killed during the uprising after it turned violent. It is estimated that over 200 Tibetans were subsequently killed in the crackdown that followed.

Tibetan National Uprising Day is commemorated every year in memory of those who were beaten and killed in the 1959 Uprising against authoritarian rule by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who led a deadly invasion of Tibet with its "Liberation Army" in 1949, sending many Tibetans into exile.

The area where the protest took place has now been placed under even tighter security by the police force and military, who are a constant presence in Tibet and areas of Sichuan province with large ethnic Tibetan populations. 

Chinese police and government offices in Ngaba were not answering repeated phone calls from the press after the incident, with the exception of one respondant who said "nothing is wrong".

 

2008 Protests in Lhasa, Tibet