Tibetan Monk Sets Himself Ablaze
2011-08-15
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Tibetan Buddhist monk burned himself to death onMonday in southwest China calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, the exiledspiritual leader condemned by Beijing as a separatist, a group campaigning forTibetan self-rule said.
The monk's self-immolation could spark fresh tensions in heavily ethnicTibetan parts of Sichuan, which neighbors the official Tibet region, followingprotests in March when a Tibetan monk there also burned himself to death.
The London-based Free Tibet organization said the latestimmolation-protest was carried out by a 29-year-old monk, Tsewang Norbu, whowas from a monastery in Tawu, about 150 km (93 miles) from where the lastimmolation happened.
"Tsewang Norbu drank petrol, sprayed petrol on himself and thenset himself on fire," Free Tibet said in an emailed statement, citing anunnamed witness.
"He was heard calling out: 'We Tibetan people want freedom', 'Longlive the Dalai Lama' and 'Let the Dalai Lama Return to Tibet'. He is believedto have died at the scene," the group said.
China's official Xinhua news agency also reported the monk'sself-immolation, but said "it was unclear why he had burned himself."
Tawu, called Daofu in Chinese, is in a largely ethnic Tibetan part ofwestern Sichuan that many advocates of self-rule say should form part of alarger homeland under Tibetan control. Calls from Reuters to the government andpolice bureau in Daofu County went unanswered on Monday evening.
Tawu（中国語のDaofuと呼ばれている）は 自治の多くの主唱者が チベット人の自治でより大きな祖国の一部をなさなければならないと言う 西四川の主に民族のチベットの地域で、あります。ロイターからの政府まで呼び出しにDaofu郡の警察局は、月曜日の夕方につながらなくなりました。
Tensions over the fate of the exiled Dalai Lama and his calls forTibetan self-determination have continued to dog the region, sometimes flaringinto protests.
In March 2008, Tibetan protests led by monks in Lhasa, the regionalcapital of Tibet proper, were suppressed by police and turned violent. Rioterstorched shops and turned on residents, especially Han Chinese, whom manyTibetans see as intruders threatening their culture.
2008年3月に、ラサ（本来のチベットの地域の中心地）に僧によって導かれるチベットの抗議は、警察によって抑えられて、激しくされました。暴徒は店に放火して、居住者（特に漢民族）に食ってかかりました。そして漢民族とは 多くのチベット人は彼らの文化を脅かしている侵入者とみなします。
That unrest spilled over into other ethnic Tibetan parts of China,including mountainous western Sichuan.
Beijing has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of being a separatist whohas abetted violence. China also rejects accusations of oppression of Tibetans,saying its rule has bought huge benefits to what was a dirt poor society.
The Nobel Peace prize-winning Dalai Lama denies seeking independencefor Tibet, saying he wants a peaceful transition to autonomy for his remotemountain homeland, which the People's Republic of China has ruled since troopsmarched in 1950.
Security forces detained about 300 Tibetan monks from a monastery inwestern China for a month amid a crackdown sparked the previousself-immolation, two exiled Tibetans and a prominent writer told Reuters at thetime.
"Today's news exposes how desperate some Tibetans feel," thedirector of Free Tibet, Stephanie Brigden, said in the group's email.
After the self-immolation in March, she said, Chinese authorities"deployed troops on to the streets, imposed curfews, undertook housesearches and set up military round blocks."
