BEIJING, May 31 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Tibetans in Lhasa
have been detained by Chinese security officers after two
self-immolation protests against Chinese rule over Tibet, a
U.S.-broadcaster said, stoking concerns of spreading unrest
amo n g Tibetans in China.
On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa,
state news agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a
major Tibetan protest against Chinese rule. One of the men
died.
China has branded the self-immolators “terrorists” and
criminals and has blamed exiled Tibetans and the exiled Tibetan
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting them.
At least 35 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March
2011 in protest against China’s six-decade rule over Tibet,
according to Tibetan rights groups. At least 27 have died.
Late on Wednesday, Radio Free Asia cited a source as
estimating that about 600 Tibetans had been detained since the
Sunday’s protests in Lhasa. The number could not be
independently confirmed because foreign journalists are barred
from entering Tibet.
The detentions come amid news that a Tibetan woman had set
herself ablaze on Wednesday afternoon in Aba prefecture in
southwestern Sichuan province, according to Tibetan advocacy
group Free Tibet and Radio Free Asia.
Experts say Beijing may introduce tighter restrictions to
halt the growing unrest in China’s ethnic Tibetan areas.
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in
India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, a
separatist. The Dalai Lama says he merely seeks greater autonomy
for his Himalayan homeland.
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Ken Wills and Jeremy
Laurence)
