China confirms monk immolation in Tibetan town: Xinhua

Saturday, February 28, 2009

AFP
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A Tibetan woman walks past Chinese paramilitary police officers on duty in an area popular with Tibetans in Chengdu, southwestern China's Sichuan province, Saturday, Feb. 28 , 2009. A Tibetan Buddhist monk in another town in the province set himself on fire Friday in an apparent protest against government religious restrictions and was shot by security forces, international Tibetan advocacy groups reported Saturday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AFP) — Chinese authorities have admitted a man in monk's robes set himself alight, according to state media, confirming there was unrest in a Tibetan town where activist groups said police shot the protester.

The man walked out of the Kirti Monastery in Aba and set himself on fire in a local street on Friday afternoon, Xinhua news agency said, citing the local Communist Party chief, Shi Jun.

Shi reportedly said police put out the fire, and that the man was taken to hospital with burn injuries to his neck and head.

The official said the man was wearing monk's robes, and that an investigation was underway. Few other details were given in the initial Xinhua report.

Tibetan activist groups had earlier said police shot the monk after he soused himself with petrol and set himself alight to protest against Chinese rule.

The monk, in his late 20s, had been holding a flag with an image of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama when he made his protest, the London-based group Free Tibet reported.

The incident came amid high tensions in Tibet and other areas of western China with Tibetan populations ahead of the ultra-sensitive 50th anniversary of a failed uprising on March 10 that led to the Dalai Lama fleeing to India.

Aba, in southwest China's Sichuan province, has been a flashpoint since police opened fire on an anti-Chinese protest there in March last year, in violence that activists said then left at least seven Tibetans dead.

The protest last year was part of unrest across the Tibetan plateau to mark the 49th anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising.