Selvafbrændingerne ses som udtryk for desperation over etnisk og kulturel undertrykkelse fra de kinesiske myndigheder – Tibet har været besat i over 60 år; Danmark var det som bekendt i fem.
Two more Tibetans are reported to have set themselves on fire in Tibetan areas of China, in protest against Chinese rule, BBC online reports Tuesday.
A monk named Lungtok and a man identified as Tashi set themselves alight in Aba, Sichuan province, on Monday evening. More than 40 Tibetans have set themselves on fire in the past year.
Five – these two men and three previous protesters – have self-immolated in the last 10 days alone, say campaigners, in what appears to be an escalation of Tibetan protests inside China.
Twenty-year-old Lungtok and 21-year-old Tashi “set themselves on fire inside a prayer-wheel hut near Kirti Monastery in Ngaba Town”, reported campaign group Free Tibet, using the Tibetan name for the town which China refers to as Aba.
Multiple reports suggest that following the self-immolations Tibetans began to demonstrate and their numbers quickly increased.
“Eyewitnesses report that some demonstrators were beaten with metal batons (stave) spiked with nails (søm) and that some people were dragged away,” said Free Tibet.
Kirti Monastery has been the focus of protests for over a year now and is ringed by Chinese security forces, but they have proved unable to halt the self-immolations.
The Tibetan government-in-exile say the self-immolations are protests against tight Chinese control of the region and religious repression.
