A Tibetan monk in Sichuan set himself on fire after staging a protest in support of the Dalai Lama, BBC reports:
The UK-based Free Tibet group said in a statement that the 29-year-old monk, from the Nyitso Monastery in Dawu town, had doused himself with petrol and set himself alight.
The group said he had been calling out “we Tibetan people want freedom”, “long live the Dalai Lama” and “let the Dalai Lama Return to Tibet”.
Most Tibetan monks are loyal to the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader who has lived in exile in India for decades.
A local hotel receptionist told the AFP news agency the monk had been handing out leaflets before he set himself alight.
“I saw a monk lying on the ground and burning, he died right in front of the county government building,” said the receptionist.
