At around 2 pm local time on Sunday, 27 May 2012, two young Tibetan men set themselves on fire in front of the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, sources have told VOA.
According to the sources, the security forces, armed with firefighting equipment, arrived rapidly on the scene and extinguished the raging fires and took away the two men. It is believed that one man may have died on the scene, but the actual condition and whereabouts of the two men are not known at this time.
བོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་ས་ལྷ་སར་བོད་མིས་རྒྱ་ནག་གཞུང་ལ་རང་སྲེག་ངོ་རྒོལ་བྱས་པ།
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One of the self-immolators was reportedly Dorjee Tseten, a 19- year –old, from Amdo Bora, and the other young man is reportedly from Amdo Ngaba, although the source couldn’t confirm this information with certainty. Both men had lived in Lhasa for some time and worked at Nyima Ling restaurant, a Tibetan source told VOA Tibetan Service.
Sources in Tibet also told VOA Tibetan Service that although eyewitnesses have taken pictures of the self-immolation in Lhasa, but they were not able send them out because of China’s immediate of cutting of information links to the outside world.
Gedun Sonam, a monk from Drepung Gomang in South India, told VOA Tibetan Service, Dorjee Tseten is the youngest child of the three. His mother’s name is Dolkar Kyi and fathe’s name is Wa Dekhar (SP?). Gedun Sonaam, who is also from Amdo Bora, said that the two self-immolators were shouting something as they were engulfed with fire. It was not clear what they were shouting.
In the past the self-immolators often called for return of the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibet.
The self-immolation came as China has once again banned both current and retired government officials as well as party members and students from engaging in religious activities, specially during the sacred Buddhist month of Saka Dawa which began on May 21. Saka Dawa is the commemoration of Lord Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death.
This is the second self-immolation to have occurred in the Tibet Autonomous region and the 36th and 37th.
Protesting China’s repressive policies in Tibet, 35 Tibetans had set themselves on fire since 2009.
The U.S. State Department in November urged Beijing to address its "counter-productive policies" in Tibetan areas of Sichuan province. A spokeswoman said China's policies have created tensions which threaten the unique religious, cultural, and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people.
