Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Tibetan sets herself on fire in protest

When the going gets tough and you have finally had enough.

Light yourself on FIRE.



The Associated Press
Free Tibet said the nun, 20-year-old Tenzin Wangmo, died after setting herself on fire Monday outside Dechen Chokorling nunnery in Sichuan province's Aba prefecture where a number of other self-immolations have taken place this year. The group said she chanted slogans as she set herself alight calling for greater religious freedom and the return of Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama.

Although there is no tradition of self-immolation as a form of protest in Tibetan society, a total of nine monks and former monks and one nun have set themselves on fire since March in what are seen as desperate acts to draw attention to repression of Tibetan Buddhism.
Most ignited the flames while calling for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Aged in their late teens and twenties, at least five died of their injuries, while the condition of the other four is not known.
"The acts of self-immolation are not taking place in isolation, protests have been reported in the surrounding region and calls for wider protests are growing," Free Tibet Director Stephanie Brigden was quoted as saying in a statement.

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