10 April , Paris [France]: On Saturday, students from the ‘Students for a Free Tibet-France’ (SFT-France) group and five other Tibetan organizations protested outside the Chinese embassy in Paris against three self-immolations that occurred in their nation in March.
The protesters displayed photos of the three Tibetans who had immolated themselves last month to protest against the atrocities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), also raising slogans against the Chinese repression of Tibetans.
Dhondup Tsawa, president of SFT-France said during the protest, they had all assembled outside the Chinese Embassy to demand freedom of Tibet from CCP rule.
On March 27, Taphun, an 81-year old Tibetan self-immolated for the Tibetan cause in Kirti, Ngaba County. He self-immolated in front of the public security bureau office outside near the Kirti monastery compound which was built in 2008 for the surveillance of the monastery area.
Notably, as a form of protest against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, as many as 159 Tibetans since 2009 have set themselves on fire, according to Phayul.
Earlier this year, a popular singer Tsewang Norbu (25) had self-immolated in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa on February 25. Another Tibetan man had set himself on fire in front of a police station in Kham region in Tibet’s Kyegudo.
However, with the information blockade in Tibetan areas intensifying in the past few years, it has become increasingly difficult for any news to come out of Tibet.
Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1950 and later annexed it. The 1959 Tibetan uprising saw violent clashes between Tibetan residents and Chinese forces.