(TibetanReview.net, Feb27’22) – A Tibetan was reported to have shouted slogans and tried to self-immolate in front of the Potala Palace in Tibet’s capital Lhasa but was stopped and taken away by Chinese police on Feb 25 morning, reported the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Feb 26, citing both local and exile Tibetan sources.
No other details are available about the person and related information on the incident. These include the protester’s identity, condition, slogans, and current whereabouts.
However, immediately after the would-be self-immolator was taken away by police, streets in front and around the palace, which is the historical winter residence of the Dalai Lamas since the fifth in the 17th century, were reported to have been blocked by Chinese police.
This was followed by deployment of more troops in front of the Potala Palace, the report cited a local source as saying, speaking on condition of anonymity for his personal safety.
China’s tight control on communication channels and people’s movement means that very little information about the situation and developments in Tibet reach the outside world, leaving little room for holding it accountable for specific instances of violations of human rights, including at the UN Human Rights Council and by international human rights groups.
According to the rfa.org report, a total of 157 Tibetans are confirmed to have carried out protest self-immolations across Tibet since 2009, most of them in the traditionally Tibetan region of Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) which is now part of China’s Sichuan Province.
The previously latest reported self-immolation was carried out by a 26-year-old man named Shurmo, who torched himself in Sep 2015 in Nagchu (Naqu) County of Tibet Autonomous Region, with the news confirming his death becoming known only in Jan 2021, the report noted.