Tibetan monk in self-immolation protest dies

A TIBETAN Buddhist monk burned himself to death in south-west China calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader condemned by Beijing as a separatist, a group campaigning for Tibetan self-rule said.

The monk’s self-immolation could spark fresh tensions in heavily ethnic Tibetan parts of Sichuan, which neighbours the official Tibet region, following protests in March when a Tibetan monk there also burned himself to death.

The London-based Free Tibet organisation said the latest immolation-protest was carried out by a 29-year-old monk, Tsewang Norbu, who was from a monastery in Tawu, about 150km from where the last immolation happened.