Yonten’s protest follows the December 2018 self-immolation of DrukKho, also in Ngaba, and brings to 156 the number of self-immolations by Tibetans since the wave of fiery protests against Chinese rule of their homeland began in 2009
The heightened security measures in Dza Mey—a Tibetan town of shops, restaurants, and small businesses—follow separate protests this month in the township’s Dza Wonpo village in which small groups scattered pro-independence leaflets in the courtyards of Chinese government and police offices
The protest by the two men, Yonten and Choegyal, took place at about 2:30 p.m. in front of the police station in Sershul’s Dza Wonpo village in the Kardze (Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan monk living in India told RFA, citing contacts in the region
News of detentions of Tibetans or of Tibetan protests against Chinese rule is frequently delayed in reaching outside contacts owing to strict communications clampdowns imposed by Chinese authorities in Tibetan areas
During 2017 and 2018, at least 4,820 Tibetan and Han Chinese monks and nuns were removed from Larung Gar, with over 7,000 dwellings and other structures torn down beginning in 2001, according to sources in the region