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Subscribe to RSSBEIJING - Hundreds of Tibetans in Lhasa have been detained by Chinese security officers after two self-immolation protests against Chinese rule over Tibet, according to U.S.-funded broadcaster, stoking concerns of spreading unrest among Tibetans in China.
Locals detained are being held in detention centers in and around Lhasa while many of those from outside the Tibet Autonomous Region have been expelled, Radio Free Asia said.
On Sunday, two Tibetan men set themselves on fire in Lhasa, state news agency Xinhua said, the first time in four years of a major Tibetan protest against Chinese rule. One of the men died.
China has branded the self-immolators "terrorists" and criminals and has blamed exiled Tibetans and the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for inciting them.
Protesters set themselves on fire near temple popular with tourists in Tibet capital
At least 35 Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March 2011 in protest against China's six-decade rule over Tibet, according to Tibetan rights groups. At least 27 have died.
Video captured a landslide burying a major highway in Tibet last week. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
Hao Peng, head of the Communist Party's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs in the Tibet Autonomous Region, has urged authorities to tighten their grip on the Internet and mobile text messaging, reflecting government fears about unrest during a month-long Buddhist festival which started last week.
The move is the latest in a series of measures the government says are intended to maintain stability.
Video: Are we seeing a Tibetan spring?
Beijing considers the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, a separatist. The Dalai Lama says he merely seeks greater autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Now maybe it's just me but...
"You are oppressing me, I will set myself on fire!"
Just seems a little... self-defeating? Granted, not too many things say "I would rather burn alive than live another day with you." than burning alive, but still.... unless there's something particularly offensive to the Chinese about the scent of burnt Tibetans, I just don't quite get this.
Of course, I can't say I fully grasp China's hangup either... Tibet is not exactly the most hospitable place in the world, nor the most strategic, so why China can't just leave Tibet be is also a mystery.
Free Tibet, ban lead, and stop being @ssholes to each other.
Burning themselves alive to death is a way to become
immortal according the evil religion.
@JimmyAmerica-1529517
You have no idea what you're talking about. Read up on Buddhism before you post things like this that make it obvious that you're ignorant.
Some Buddhists, especially monks or nuns, have chosen self immolation to draw attention to causes, but Buddhism really doesn't promote it. As Buddhists believe in reincarnation, leaving this life by choice isn't the "end", and self sacrifice does, in their belief system, benefit others.
People all over the world have been executed, rather than give up political convictions. Fire fighters enter burning buildings; soldiers face gun fire to protect nations; parents who can't swim jump into rivers to save their drowning children. Self sacrifice, or the potential for it, is evident in these things too, and we call these people "heroes". Few Buddhists would set themselves on fire, but they do believe that the few who do, act with compassion and selflessness for others, making a supreme sacrifice that will positively affect a bigger "picture" than we see.
China, once again, showing its true nature by branding Tibetians 'terrorists.'
Poor Jimmy. I sure hope you aren't a christian...because, lord knows, christians win the historical prize for burning people alive. The only reason why they aren't now is because it is illegal in most countries.
Until the World is willing to stand against the expansion of the Han Chinese into these countries...
NOTHING will change...
Tibet contains; 1/3 of China's coal reserves, deposits of 'rare earths', and the hydro power/control of the sediment into the Yellow River...
China's future depends on access & control of these...
Tibetans have long chafed under China's rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, saying that Beijing has curbed religious freedoms and their culture is being eroded by an influx of Han Chinese, the country's main ethnic group.
Radio Free Asia said Chinese security forces had rounded up hundreds of residents and pilgrims in the wake of the immolations, the first significant protest in the heavily guarded city since deadly anti-government riots in 2008.
It quoted a local source as saying about 600 Tibetans had been detained and those from outside the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) had been expelled.
reference - http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/295911/china-detains-hundreds-in-tibet-capital-report
its strategic postition because on the other side is india, and tibet is has mineral and other metal etc. also it has to do with sovereignty, china see tibet as part of china, just like we see our country belong to us, not solely belong to american indian. imagine if cuba say guantanamo bay is part of cuba, not US. or hawii belong to the native etc etc. after 60yrs, now there are more han chinese living in tibet than tibetan. ask them to leave is like asking all american to leave and give the land back to american indian. its not simply as in black and white
Chiang Kai Shek had good relationship with Tibet. Mao attacked Tibet and now Dalai Lama has been exiled for 53 years. Free Tibet, NOW!!
Free Tibet, NOW!! China WWII residents cry when they recount Japanese occupation of China. In fact, China's occupation of Tibet is much longer and infinitely worse.
Mao didn't fight the Japanese strongly. The Japanese conquered parts of China, all of Korea etc until the Americans atom bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki and defeated the Japanese. For Mao, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany were role models. When the Japanese surrendered, Mao and Communist Red China happily picked up the surrendered Japanese arms, which they used subsequently to terrorize and occupy Tibet. They have also assaulted weaker countries around their borders. And were it not for US military support of Taiwan, South Korea and Philippines, they would have been attacked.
Chiang Kai Shek had a good relationship with Tibet and Dalai Lama. Communist Red China's assault, killings of Tibetans, rule of Tibet, forced over 53 years of exile of Dalai Lama and imposing a large population (millions) of Chinese into Tibet are extremely cruel actions. World should not look the other way, China should be asked to set Tibet free first as a precondition to trading privileges.
What a total misuse of the term TERRORIST! A TERRORIST is someone who seeks to instill terror in a civilian population by threatening to commit random acts of mass-casuality violence against its members. These people are only causing pain to themselves, in order to bring attention to their cause. Once again, the Chinese government makes a fool of itself through its Orwellian misuse of language.
Hopefully, this story will flood the news so that the people in China find the truth about their leaders. I'm sure that there are networking sites that manage to get through the filters. Now the big concern is Obama and the UN. The UN wants to control the Internet to stop the truth from flowing to the people. Obama supports the UN activities. I wonder why? There are two major threats against US freedom: the UN and the US news media. Both are bastions protecting the untruth! If reporting false information was a death penalty crime, the UN would have no members and the US media would cease to exist.
Oh my gosh, Jamie Alvarez, where did you get all of those bizarre ideas?
Why doens't China just let them go. Are they in a strategic place? Do the have lots of natural resources? Is it a power trip?
For those concerned calling Free Tibet, your wish has already been fulfilled.
Tibetans are truly free since their liberation from serfdom in 1951. They live in harmony with their Han Chinese brethrens and their standard of living improved tremedously, with their language, religion and culture fully protected.
However no matter what social improvement has been made there are always a small element of diehard former elitists yearning the return to serfdom with dalai as their master. These extremists resort to lie, distortion and violence to instigate unrest in the region for their particular political agenda.
China is composed of 58 ethnic groups, and they have no trouble to be part of greater China.
Henrich: The "small element of diehard former elitists" are Tibetan Buddhist Monks. Your statement is so untrue I'm truly taken aback. No one will ever know how any of the 58 ethnic groups REALLY feel because of repression by the Chinese government. Anyone who says anything contrary to their views is tortured & murdered. The Chinese slaughtered the Tibetans, destroyed their culture -His Holiness the Dali Lama (Tibet's Spiritual Leader) was forced to leave his country and has been is exile ever since. ( You sound like a propaganda machine for the Chinese government.)
You sound like a propaganda machine for dalai and the tibetan separatist/terrorists.
Dear Tibetans, Please try to grasp / understand, the actul torching of ones body has no effect on anyone except the person that is burned to death. The rest of the world is not going to stop anyone who is upsetting , bothering , or opressing you in any way, you simply no longer exist and while you gain attention to the problem at hand, the fact you no longer exist makes the problem seem less relavent with the absence of your presence. Try to combine your sprituality with your physical presence to maximize the potential for change, and as an example to others, change will come easyer to those who lack the full understanding of your dedacation to spritual and posative energy in time and space. May you live long and prosper in your quest for peace and enlightenment of the world. Blessed is the dove that finds happiness within it's peacefull existance.
The improper detentions of so many Tibetans is China's way of saying it has a "harmonous society". The communists run wild in fear of dissension and protests against this evil regime. Hopefully the Chinese people will rise up and rid themselves of this cancer called communism in China.
Unfortunately Tibet will never be free the most the US can do is put pressure on the Chinese to act a little more humanely and to preserve Tibetan culture. Having said that it was also the purpose of the lopsided trade deals we procured for better humanity on the part of the Chinese, it has worked too slowly at great economic cost to us. I also have read from a few sources that China(communism) would self implode although I didn't understand the concept, can anyone explain?
Critical times hard to deal with, will be here.