A Tibetan shouted slogans and tried to self-immolate in an obvious protest in entrance of the enduring Potala Palace within the Tibet regional capital Lhasa this week however was thwarted by Chinese language police, sources within the area and in India informed RFA Saturday.
Instantly after the incident Friday morning exterior the Potala, police took away the Tibetan, whose identification, situation and whereabouts stay unknown, the sources mentioned.
“Proper after this incident passed off, the Chinese language police blocked all of the streets in entrance and round Potala Palace. And right now there are extra Chinese language troopers deployed in entrance of the Potala Palace than ordinary,” a supply inside Tibet, who spoke on situation of anonymity to keep away from potential authorized hazard, mentioned Saturday.
The huge hilltop Potala that dominates the Lhasa skyline was the winter palace of historic Dalai Lamas from 1649 till 1959, when the present Dalai Lama fled to India after an rebellion in opposition to Chinese language rule over the previously unbiased Himalayan area, triggering a crackdown wherein the palace was shelled and hundreds have been killed by Chinese language troops.
A second supply from the massive Tibetan exile group in India confirmed having heard of the Potala incident but in addition had no additional particulars.
Thus far, 157 Tibetans are confirmed to have set themselves on hearth since 2009 to protest Chinese language rule in Tibetan areas, and one other eight have taken their lives in Nepal and India.
The earlier report of a self-immolation was that of a 26-year-old man named Shurmo, who set himself ablaze in September 2015 within the Tibet Autonomous Area’s Nagchu (Chinese language, Naqu) county. His demise was confirmed solely in January of final yr.
Friday’s aborted self-immolation bid occurred within the run as much as the March 10 anniversary of the 1959 revolt, often known as Tibetan Nationwide Rebellion Day, a interval when the Chinese language authorities often tightens management and surveillance.
Excessive-technology controls on cellphone and on-line communications in Tibetan areas typically stop information of Tibetan protests and arrests from reaching the surface world.
Tibet’s exiled non secular chief the Dalai Lama is reviled by Chinese language leaders as a separatist intent on splitting Tibet, which was invaded and included into China by pressure in 1950, from Beijing’s management.
The Dalai Lama himself says solely that he seeks a better autonomy for Tibet as part of China, although, with assured protections for Tibet’s language, tradition, and faith.
Chinese language authorities preserve a decent grip on the area, limiting Tibetans’ political actions and peaceable expression of ethnic and spiritual identification, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment, and extrajudicial killings.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.