A Tibetan Buddhist monk set himself on fire in western China in an apparent protest against Beijing’s rule, a monitoring group and a US government-backed radio station said.
The monk set himself ablaze in a public square on Saturday morning in Kardze, also known as Ganzi, in Sichuan Province, according to Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet, an advocacy group based in Britain.
The unidentified monk was taken away after the fire was extinguished by security forces, reports said. It was unclear if he survived.
A man who answered the telephone yesterday at the local police station said he was unaware of the case and “not clear” about the situation.
The government for Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which includes the town of Kardze, referred questions to police.
A YouTube video purported to be of the incident showed two men spraying fire extinguishers on what appeared to be a body at the edge of a busy street as a crowd gathered.
Free Tibet spokesman John Jones said the group acquired the video from a witness who posted it on social media.
If the self-immolation is confirmed, it would be the 148th recorded case of a Tibetan self-immolating since 2009, according to Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet. At least 125 have died, according to monitoring groups.
Self-immolations peaked in 2012 with 83 that year, Jones said.
A security crackdown has made it more difficult to confirm subsequent incidents, particularly in the Tibetan Autonomous Region that includes Lhasa, Jones said.
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