A Tibetan man succumbed to burn injuries early morning on 24 December after he committed self-immolation to protest repressive policies of the Chinese government in Tibet. Meanwhile Chinese authorities have detained the deceased’s father on unknown charges.
Konpey, 30, carried out the self-immolation protest at around 6 pm on 23 December in Ngaba County town in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. A 6-second video footage that has become available on social media shows Konpey wrapped in flames and running while a Tibetan woman witnessing the scene is heard crying and supplicating to His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “Your Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, please keep him in your prayers! ” Other onlookers are heard shouting, ‘Kyi Hi Hi ’, a cry of protest, defiance and resistance in the Tibetan tradition. The force of the fire was so strong that it drowned the exact slogans shouted by Konpey.