Crackdown fuelling self-immolations, International Campaign for Tibet says

A security crackdown in Tibetan-inhabited areas is fuelling self-immolations in protest at the central government's rule that have claimed dozens of lives, an advocacy group said yesterday.

Three self-immolations have occurred since Thursday, according to the International Campaign for Tibet - two in the northwestern province of Qinghai and one in neighbouring Gansu .

"The Tibetans who are self-immolating, now in more rapid succession, have clearly not been dissuaded by the security build-up or other means of official intimidation," ICT head Mary Beth Markey said.

"Unless and until there is some initiative that can break through the cycle of repression and protest, I think we all acknowledge that more Tibetans will be prepared to take the agonising action of self-immolation."

At least 81 Tibetans have set themselves alight in Tibetan-inhabited regions of China since 2009, with most occurring in the last year and the majority ending in death, according to the group.

Many Tibetans in China accuse the central government of religious repression and eroding their culture, as the country's majority Han ethnic group increasingly moves into historically Tibetan areas.