A Tibetan monk self immolated near a police station Tuesday in Tawu, Kham, Tibet, calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, who is considered a criminal separatist in Tibet, and for Tibet to be free of Chinese rule.
Kalsang Yeshe, a man in his late 20s or early 30s, was a monk practicing at Nyitso monastery in the town of Tawu. Prior to the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Nyitso had been a large monastery of around 2,000 monks, but currently only 200 monks practice at the monastery.
The police station near which Kalsang self immolated was recently built near the monastery. Repression of monks and other Tibetans has been particularly severe near Nyitso in recent years, according to Save Tibet.
Reports of the self immolation come by way of exiled Tibetans in India, many of whom cannot return to Tibet for fear of charges under Chinese law for their support of Tibetan autonomy and the Dalai Lama. Communications from within Tibet are rare because such communications are illegal and are severely punished by Chinese authorities.
Read more: 134th Tibetan self immolates
The self immolation was the third within one week. It is the 136th self immolation within Tibet, and the 142nd known self immolation for the cause of Tibetan freedom.
After the self immolation, armed police removed the body. Locals called for the body to be returned to them in order to preform traditional religious ceremonies.
Kalsang was described by one source who knew him at a monastery in exile as a very hard worker in the cause to protect and preserve Tibetan cultural language and identity.
Recently, China passed new laws increasing restrictions on and control over Tibetan religious institutions. Last month, China conducted the first expulsion of 26 nuns under on of the new laws, which limits the number of adherents that can practice at a given monastery.