Tibetan Activist Sets Himself on Fire: Hu Protests Conclude in Mumbai, Dharamsala
An Associated Press article reported that Lhakpa Tsering, a college student and head of RTYC Bangalore, set himself on fire this morning while protesting Hu Jintao outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
Lhakpa Tsering and six other Tibetan youths were able to drive right up to Hu’s hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Towers. Their two taxis parked in front of a thin barricade outside the hotel, they jumped out and began chanting slogans against China’s occupation of Tibet.
Tsering then doused his trousers with a liquid and set them on fire, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene.
Several policemen quickly jumped on the man, rolled him on the ground and doused the flames.
Hu was inside the hotel at the time preparing to address an audience of 300 Indian business leaders and a 250-person Chinese trade delegation.
News articles posted on www.phayul.com have reported that despite sustaining injuries to his legs, Lhakpa Tsering is recovering in hospital. The attempted self-immolation comes on the 5th day of mass protests, arrests and direct action by Tibetans against Hu Jintao’s visit to India, which had made national and international news headlines and dominated the media coverage of the visit.
This point was made in NDTV’s summary of the Chinese leaders’ visit:
Hundreds of Tibetan demonstrators angrily demanding China end the repression in their homeland perhaps became the only enduring image during Hu Jintao’s visit to India.
On Thursday, the scenes were a little more desperate. In Mumbai, a student set himself on fire to demand the Chinese President end the repression in his homeland Tibet.
Right from the time he landed, Hu has been doggedly pursued by Tibetan demonstrations.
Indian authorities have done everything they can to keep them away from the presidential cavalcade and that has only raised the tempo. The protestors are singling out Hu Jintao.
They say as head of the Tibetan Autonomous Region in 1989, Hu ordered the violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators that left thousands dead.
Many believe images filmed by Romanian television in October of two Tibetan escapees shot in the back by Chinese soldiers is a sign that Hu Jintao’s military is once again getting desperate.
In Dharamsala, the Chalo Delhi campaign ended today with hundreds of Tibetans participating in a candlelight vigil in McLeod Ganj’s main market square. A minute of silence was held for the many brave Tibetans who have risked their lives for Tibetan freedom. Ven. Ngawang Woebar, President of the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement spoke on behalf of the Delhi protest organizing body (which included 6 or the largest Tibetans NGOs in India), thanking everyone around the world for the incredible outpouring of moral and financial support. He called for ongoing collaboration and grassroots mobolization by Tibetans in India and abroad and that by working together Tibetans can truly utilize their collective strength.
Leave a Comments »
Trackback | RSS 2.0
[…] Tibetan Activist Sets Himself on Fire: Hu Protests Conclude in … An Associated Press article reported that Lhakpa Tsering, a college student and head of RTYC Bangalore, set himself on fire this morning while protesting Hu Jintao outside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. …Read more: here […]
[…] Read more: here […]