Tibetan mother-of-two stages self-immolation protest against China
Woman believed to have died after setting herself on fire outside a Chinese government building in Gansu province in second incident this month
A Tibetan woman set fire to herself in a protest against Chinese repression in northwestern Gansu province in the second such protest this month, according to a Tibetan rights watchdog and reports on Thursday.
The US-based International Campaign for Tibet said Sangye Tso, a 36-year-old mother of two, staged the protest outside a Chinese government building in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on Wednesday and is believed to have died.
Tibetan sources in exile were quoted as saying that the government building is a local symbol of Chinese oppression.
Armed police raided the homes of her family and detained some of her relatives, the sources said.
Last week, Tenzin Gyatso, a 25-year-old father of four, set himself on fire and died near a government building in Daofu county of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in a protest against the deployment of Chinese forces in the area to put off celebrations of the 80th birthday of exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, Tibetan news portal Phayul reported.
Including Sangye, 141 Tibetans are known to have protested against Chinese repression through immolation since 2009. Among them, 115 have died.
The Tibetans call for the return from exile of the Dalai Lama, who is vilified by China as a “separatist” for seeking autonomy for the Tibetan people.
China has blamed the Dalai Lama “clique” for orchestrating the string of self-immolation protests and rejected Tibetans’ claims of repression.
