Tibetan monk from Kirti monastery self-immolates

Published November 20, 2014

An 18-year-old monk set himself on fire and died in southwestern China on Tuesday in the latest of dozens of self-immolations by Tibetans in the past 16 months, the Tibetan government-in-exile said

Lobsang Lozin, from the Gyalrong Tsodun Kirti Monastery, died after setting himself on fire around noon and local Tibetans blocked a bridge to prevent police from moving in, the exile government based in Dharamsala, India, said.

A photo shared by the government-in-exile showed a blackened body lying on the ground and engulfed in flame. Three people in the background were praying as they lowered their heads and put their palms together.

The various reports on Lozin's death differed on where he died, but the Kirti monastery has been a center of dissent against China for years, and two of its monks died of self-immolation March 30. The Chinese government's intense crackdown has included re-educating monks and increasing security and surveillance at the monastery and the surrounding area.

The monastery is in the Ngaba Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province.

The International Campaign for Tibet says 42 Tibetans have self-immolated since March 2011. The Chinese government has confirmed some but not all of them and gave no information on Tuesday's death.

Activists say the self-immolations are in protest of Beijing's heavy-handed rule in the region. China has blamed the Dalai Lama for inciting them, which the exiled spiritual leader denies.

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