More protests, self-immolation reported in Tibetan areas

Feb 9, 2012, 5:10 GMT

Beijing - Two large protests and another self-immolation have hit three Tibetan areas despite a crackdown by Chinese authorities, reports said on Thursday.

An unidentified Tibetan self-immolated early Wednesday evening in the county town of Aba, or Ngaba in Tibetan, in the south-western province of Sichuan, London-based Free Tibet said.

In two areas of neighbouring Qinghai province, hundreds of Tibetans protested against Chinese rule on Wednesday, carrying banners supporting 'Free Tibet,' US-based Radio Free Asia said.

The broadcaster said protesters in Qinghai's Nangqian and Chenduo counties, or Nangchen and Tridu in Tibetan, respectively, also called for the release of Tibetan political prisoners and the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.

Up to 1,000 people joined each of the protests in Qinghai, it said.

At least 20 Tibetans have self-immolated in China in the past 13 months, most of them in the restive Aba area.

Free Tibet quoted Aba residents as saying more armed police had arrived in the area in the past few days, with dozens of paramilitary police vehicles parked outside Aba's main monastery, Kirti, on Wednesday.

Authorities had cut short a prayer ceremony at Kirti earlier Wednesday, while many shops in the town were closed because of the mounting tension, it said.

Lobsang Sangay, the head of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile, on Wednesday said it was 'critical that the international community must intervene now to show support for Tibet and Tibetan people.'

'The Tibetans in Tibet are giving up their lives because the occupation of Tibet and repressive policies of the Chinese government is unacceptable,' Lobsang Sangay said in a speech.

State media last week said officials had ordered key monasteries near Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to tighten security and urged police checkpoints to guard against 'separatists.'

The official Tibet Daily said Qi Zhala, the city's Communist Party chief, visited two monasteries on the main road to Lhasa from Sichuan province, where at least three Tibetan protesters were shot dead last month in separate clashes with police.

Since widespread anti-government protests in 2008, the government has tightened controls in all Tibetan areas, turning away journalists, limiting the access of foreign tourists and cutting off communications in some places.

The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's highest spiritual leader, has lived in exile since he fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule of Tibet.

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