Two Tibetan teenagers set themselves on fire in Sichuan
Lhasa (AsiaNews / RFA) - Two young Tibetans
have died after setting themselves on fire near the Kirti Monastery (Aga County, China's
Sichuan province), in protest
against Beijing's rule in the
Tibetan areas. The incident occurred yesterday morning, two days
after the disappearance of a Tibetan
nun, taken away by the police
for having staged a protest against China in
Kardze. With the death of two young men, the number of Tibetan self
immolations has risen to 51 since February 2009.
Damchoe, a former monk at Kirti age 17, and Lobsang
Kalsang, 18, set themselves on fire
near the "Road of the Heroes", the main street of
Ngaba and the epicenter of most of the self-immolations that have
occurred in Sichuan province. The police took the burned bodies first to hospital in Ngaba,
and then transferred them to the Barkham County. Sources of the Tibetan government-in-exile report that
two died in the evening, but it is not known whether
the authorities will return the
bodies to their families. Damchoe
was the nephew of another victim and the younger brother of the nun Tenzin Chodron,
who also died in a
protest.
Instead on August 25, the nun Shedrub Lhamo, 39 years
old, held a lone protest in the prefecture of Kardze (Sichuan Province). Belonging to the monastery of Ganden Choeling, the Tibetan
religious demonstrated demanding
the return of the Dalai Lama
to Tibet and handing out leaflets
on the subject. Witnesses say they saw the police take the nun away.
No more has been heard of her since.
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