(TibetanReview.net, May31, 2017) – As the number of self-immolations in Tibet since Feb 2009 touched a grim high of 150, activists of the Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC) staged a rally in India’s capital New Delhi on May 29 to highlight the brutality of the Chinese rule that had engendered this gruesome suicidal form of protest.
The activists, numbering more than 200, marched from Khan Market to the nearby office of the UN Representative, bearing coffins to symbolize the 128 known number of deaths from the protest self-immolations, draped in Tibetan national flags. Participants in the rally shouted slogans such as “China out”, “Shame on you China”, and “Free Tibet”.
While at least 128 of the self-immolators had died, the fate of many of the others continue to remain unknown because of the relevant Chinese authorities’ silence on their fate and whereabouts after taking them away.
The most recent death was that of a 22-year-old monk named Jamyang Losal who immolated himself in Chentsa (Chinese: Jianza) County of Malho (Huangnan) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, on May 19. As in almost all previous cases, Chinese authorities took him away, initially to hospital, but rejected his family’s requests to return his mortal remains for the purpose of carrying out the last rites.
TYC President Tenzing Jigme, who led the rally, said in a statement: “So long as China continues to illegally occupy Tibet, the Tibetan people will continue to protest and resist the CCP’s oppression and policies. China needs to understand that the only way these protests will stop is when they listen to the demands of the Tibetan people.”
The TYC, the largest Tibetan non-governmental organization and which campaigns for Tibet’s complete independence from Chinese rule, called on the “United Nations and its member nations” to “hold China responsible for their policies and take urgent action for Tibet now.”