Tibet, a monk set himself on fire. Since 2009 there has been 114 immolations.

BEIJING – A 28-year-old Tibetan monk has immolated himself in protest against the Chinese government. Kunchok Tenzin set himself on fire near a monastery in Luqu county (Luchu in Tibetan), in Gansu province. The news was given by the broadcaster Radio Free Asia, which cited Tibetan sources in exile.

Kunchok Tenzin is the 114th Tibetan who since February 2009 has made this extreme gesture to demand the return of the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader who has lived in exile since 1959, and a change in China’s policy in Tibet. In the last three days, three people have been killed, 16 since the beginning of the year.

In addition to that of Kunchok Tenzin, the authorities of the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala in India, confirmed the death of the monk Tulku Athup, 47, and his niece Atse, 25, also a religious, which took place on 6 April ‘Last year. The two set themselves on fire in the Dzogchen monastery, in the Chinese province of Sichuan. But concern over the closure of the sacred site prevented the confirmation of the news last year, even though rumors had spread about the disappearance of the two.

(March 29, 2013)