Tibetan Self-Immolates in Sichuan Province

Created: 2012-08-06 22:10 EST

Category: China

Kirti Monestary, Aba county, Sichuan province. Armed police in full riot gear stand guard along the main street in Aba, a small Chinese town where a young monk burned himself to death last March, setting off a series of self-immolations. Four years after

A Tibetan protester self-immolated at the Kirti Monestary in Aba County (known as Ngawa to Tibetans), Sichuan province, according to UK-based NGO Free Tibet. Chinese security forces quickly extinguished the flames. An anonymous source told Radio Free Asia that the self-immolator is a monk named Lobsang Trinlay.

The protester was taken away alive by Chinese security forces. He had severe burns on his upper body.

With the Olympic Games happening in London, Free Tibet Director Stephanie Bridgen writes, “As the world’s media focuses on the discipline of Chinese athletes, Chinese state repression is driving Tibetans to set fire to themselves under a media blackout.”

Free Tibet reports that locals now call the main road outside the monastery “Martyr’s Street” because of the number of immolations that have occurred at the location.

This protest brings the number of self-immolations in Tibetan regions up to 45 since February 2009.