Chinese security forces are blockading 2,500 people inside a major Tibetan Buddhist monastery after a 16-year-old monk burned himself to death after shouting slogans in support of freedom for Tibet.
The standoff at the Kirti monastery in Ngawa County in Sichuan province's Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture has been escalating since the young monk's suicide on March 16.
A local woman told The Asahi Shimbun in a telephone interview on April 18: "Nearly 100 police officers with police dogs are blockading the monastery. The monks are receiving 're-education' in its compound."
According to an April 15 statement issued by the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, the security forces have been stopping supplies to the monastery, one of the most important institutions in Tibetan Buddhism.
The young monk, called Lobsang, walked out of the monastery on the evening of March 16, sources said. He shouted "freedom to Tibet" and "long live the Dalai Lama," doused himself in gasoline and burned himself to death.
Monks in the monastery offered prayers for the dead monk in the afternoon on March 17. About 3,000 local Tibetan residents gathered at the monastery.
China's Xinhua News Agency reported that the 16-year-old monk was transported to hospital but died before dawn on March 17 due to heart and lung failure.
Sources said he did not leave a suicide note or a will, but he was known to be dissatisfied with the Chinese authorities' policies on Tibet. The closing of schools where students could learn in the Tibetan language and the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, a high-ranking leader recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama, had particularly angered him.
According to the U.S. station Radio Free Asia, the suicide triggered unrest not only among monks at the monastery but also among Tibetan residents in the area.
In April, a rumor spread that the Chinese authorities intended to transfer monks from the monastery. To prevent the transfer, several thousand residents gathered around the monastery. Police officers dispersed them using police dogs, but a tense standoff has since developed.
In the statement issued April 15, the 14th Dalai Lama urged the Chinese authorities to change their stance, warning that the situation could get out of control and involve local residents.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a news conference on April 19, "All of the lives and religious activities of monks in the monastery are normal."
(This article was compiled from reports by Kenji Minemura in Beijing and Nozomu Hayashi in Guangzhou.)
The standoff at the Kirti monastery in Ngawa County in Sichuan province's Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture has been escalating since the young monk's suicide on March 16.
A local woman told The Asahi Shimbun in a telephone interview on April 18: "Nearly 100 police officers with police dogs are blockading the monastery. The monks are receiving 're-education' in its compound."
According to an April 15 statement issued by the Tibetan Buddhist leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, the security forces have been stopping supplies to the monastery, one of the most important institutions in Tibetan Buddhism.
The young monk, called Lobsang, walked out of the monastery on the evening of March 16, sources said. He shouted "freedom to Tibet" and "long live the Dalai Lama," doused himself in gasoline and burned himself to death.
Monks in the monastery offered prayers for the dead monk in the afternoon on March 17. About 3,000 local Tibetan residents gathered at the monastery.
China's Xinhua News Agency reported that the 16-year-old monk was transported to hospital but died before dawn on March 17 due to heart and lung failure.
Sources said he did not leave a suicide note or a will, but he was known to be dissatisfied with the Chinese authorities' policies on Tibet. The closing of schools where students could learn in the Tibetan language and the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, a high-ranking leader recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama, had particularly angered him.
According to the U.S. station Radio Free Asia, the suicide triggered unrest not only among monks at the monastery but also among Tibetan residents in the area.
In April, a rumor spread that the Chinese authorities intended to transfer monks from the monastery. To prevent the transfer, several thousand residents gathered around the monastery. Police officers dispersed them using police dogs, but a tense standoff has since developed.
In the statement issued April 15, the 14th Dalai Lama urged the Chinese authorities to change their stance, warning that the situation could get out of control and involve local residents.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a news conference on April 19, "All of the lives and religious activities of monks in the monastery are normal."
(This article was compiled from reports by Kenji Minemura in Beijing and Nozomu Hayashi in Guangzhou.)
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