Their images line the streets of Dharamsala, the Indian Himalayan foothill town which is a refuge to the Tibetan community in exile. And with seven suicide protests in the last four weeks alone, the question is ever more urgent. Most of those who have set themselves on fire have died.
On Thursday monks who have recently made the perilous journey across the Himalayas to exile in India claimed leaflets were circulating in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in China listing the names of scores of young people ready to publicly burn themselves alive to protest against Chinese policies.
Senior monks from the Kirti monastery in Aba county, the centre of the protests so far, told the Guardian that they feared it was inevitable many more would die over the coming months.
The situation is suffocating and there is no other way to demonstrate anger," said Kanyang Tsering, 32, a monk from Kirti living in Dharamsala. Tsering said the towns and villages surrounding Kirti monastery were under heavy security.
All over Tibet this is happening but in Kirti it is particularly bad. Kirti is not in the official Tibetan Autonomous Region, but exiles claim several Tibetan-dominated areas of south-west China as Tibet. Film of the area taken by journalists from the AFP news agency last month showed a heavy presence of Chinese security authorities with patrols equipped with fire extinguishers to stop further attempts at self-immolation.
Until two years ago, when a monk burned himself to death in Aba county, the practice was unknown among Tibetan clerics. But since the start of a security clampdown provoked by the second case, in March this year, there has been a series of such suicide protests. Analysts have observed that they have taken place in locations that saw significant violence during unrest in March Tibetan sources in Dharamsala also said two monks had been arrested in Kirti monastery in the last week and "taken away for unknown reasons".
But the pay-outs are contingent on meeting a state-regulated standard of patriotism. Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada.
He has a B. Post a Comment. Under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which China is a party, the detention of children shall be used only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period. Choegyal and Yonten had also posted statements on social media. May our brothers soon be released! Armed police were deployed in the town to patrol the streets and conduct military exercises, apparently intended to intimidate residents.
Local officials also held two weeks of political education meetings at Wonpo monastery. By the end of December, all of those detained had been released except for the seven who were eventually brought to trial.
Informants in exile with knowledge of developments in the Wonpo area said that the November protests took place against a background of heightened discontent after local officials placed increasing demands on resettled herders and other residents. Officials had reportedly ordered former herders and other poor families in Wonpo, which has approximately 2, households, to declare on camera or to visiting officials that their lives had improved as a result of the anti-poverty drive.
There was a lot of opinion and writing about it and it was at that time that this protest took place. An ensuing crackdown led to searches of Tibetan homes and scores of detentions, with at least three monks given prison sentences , according to foreign media reports.
Armed police were deployed in the local community, which was singled out for surveillance and restrictions by the authorities, leading to further protests and arrests in Two other Wonpo monks, Lobsang Lhundrub and Choechok, were detained in December and March respectively; Choechok was released two years later.
Choephel , Ch. Monk at Wonpo monastery. Detained on November 9, for involvement in protest on November 7, So-tra , Ch. Monk at Wonpo monastery, detained November 9, for involvement in a protest on November 7, Sentenced on December 14, to three years for incitement to split the country.
Tsultrim , Ch. Released May 9, ; re-detained August 11, Sentenced on December 14, to one year for incitement to split the country. Tenzin Nyima , Ch. From Ajia Village. Released around May 9, , but re-detained August 11, Released on medical grounds in early October
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