A teenage girl is the latest Tibetan to die from self-immolating in protest of Chinese occupation. Bhenchen Kyi, 17, self-immolated in the Dokarmo region of Tsekhog, in Rebkong, on Sunday evening. As she set the fire, she shouted for the long life of the Dalai Lama and for Tibetan independence. She died at the scene of her protest, and Phayul reports that about 3,000 people attended her funeral, which was held later that night.
Bhenchen Kyi reportedly told her classmates last week that she planned to self-immolate for Tibetan independence, and that she would carry out her protest outside of the town center so her family could prevent Chinese police from taking her body.
Bhenchen Kyi is at least the 96th Tibetan to self-immolate in protest of China’s ongoing occupation of Tibet since 2009.
