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File photo taken Oct. 17, 2011 shows Chinese paramilitary police in the streets of Aba, in China's Sichuan province. (Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images)
Another Buddhist monk has set himself on fire and died in southwestern China outside of a monastery, with throngs of people trying to prevent the removal of his body, according to a human rights group.
At least 1,000 people gathered to keep watch over the body of Nangdrol, the dead 18-year-old monk, and his body was eventually taken back to the Jonang Dzamthang Gonchen monastery, said the International Campaign for Tibet on Sunday. The group said the people refused to comply with local Chinese authorities and would not give the body to them.
“The Chinese security forces tried to take his body away but the monks of Zamtang Jonang monastery just managed to take possession of his charred body and conduct prayers,” Tsayang Gyatso, the chief of the Jonang Buddhist Association in India’s Dharamsala, told Radio Free Asia.
Sunday’s self-immolation is the latest in a string of similar incidents, with 23 Tibetans having set themselves on fire in the past year to protest China’s policies toward Tibet, a region it has presided over since the communist party took it over in 1950.
Chinese security forces have recently increased their presence in Tibet and outlying areas, setting up road blockades and cutting off forms of communications and transportation.
