Young Tibetan woman sets self on fire in anti-China protest

USPA News - A young Tibetan woman was killed Monday when she set herself on fire in southwestern China to protest China`s rule in Tibet, the Tibetan government-in-exile reported on Tuesday, raising the number of people who have set themselves on fire in similar protests over the past three years to 135. The latest incident happened at about 2 p.m. local time on Monday when a young woman called Tsepe Kyi, who was said to be either 19 or 20 years old, set herself on fire in a street in the town of Meruma, located in the southwestern province of Sichuan in a county known as Aba to Chinese and as Ngaba to Tibetans. The Central Tibetan Administration said Chinese authorities arrived at the scene within minutes and seized Tsepe Kyi`s body.

A video released by activists showed charred human remains on a sidewalk, with a subsequent photo showing a Chinese police vehicle and a pickup truck that was apparently used to remove the woman`s body. Kanyag Tsering, a Kirti monastery monk with close contacts in the region, told the Central Tibetan Administration that Tsepe Kyi`s father and mother were both taken away by police, but it was not clear whether they had been detained or were only being questioned. Another monk told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the woman`s brother was also taken away by police. China`s state-run media did not report on Monday`s incident, which follows the fatal self-immolation of a 34-year-old Tibetan man in Gansu province last week. A total of now 135 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 as part of protests taking place in Tibet, leading to the arrests of hundreds of Tibetans by Chinese security forces. The self-immolations continued despite Chinese authorities stepping up security in the region, though the protests have become less frequent since the beginning of 2013. The first incident happened on March 16, 2011, when 21-year-old Phuntsog from Kirti Monastery set himself on fire. It happened on the third anniversary of protests in Ngaba during which at least 13 people were shot to death by Chinese security forces. Phuntsog later died of his injuries.