In this photo taken on Monday, Feb. 27, 2012, Stupa of Kirti monastery, the largest Tibetan monastery is seen in Aba prefecture, in China's Sichuan province. China's stifling lockdown of this Tibetan monastery town has not only been about patrolling its o
Two Tibetans Self-immolate in Ngaba
Two Tibetan men set themselves on fire Monday morning at around 9:00 am in Ngaba in eastern Tibet (Chinese: Aba County, Aba Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province). The incidence, an apparent continuation of the spate of self-immolation protests that have taken place across the Tibetan plateau, occurred outside the east gate of Kirti monastery.
Monks and civilians from this traditional Tibetan town situated in today's Sichuan Province have been on the forefront of this form of protest which have almost unanimously called for freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
According to a local source, security forces doused the flames and took the two men away, adding that one of the men may have died while being transported.
No further details on the identity and background on the two men are available at the moment, although the incidence has been confirmed by exile experts on the Ngaba area have confirmed the reports which first emerged on social media sites.
Self-immolation map
51 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since 2009 in China protest. Most of the self-immolations have happened in Ngaba prefecture.
The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China last week released a special report on Tibetan self-immolations that noted the correlation between the series of Tibetan self-immolations with China’s increasing repression on Tibetan culture and the lack of progress in Beijing’s dialogue with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
