The burning came a day after nearly 4,000 middle school students held protests demanding Tibetan language and other rights in Rebkong and in neighboring Tsekhog (in Chinese, Zeku) county, sources inside Tibet said. The students had been prevented from leaving their schools, the sources said, with one source adding, “The authorities have detained all the students inside the schools.”
Rebkong was the scene of constant student protests in October 2010 against a proposed change in the language of instruction in schools from Tibetan to Chinese.
The self-immolation on Wednesday was the 28th by Tibetans since they began a wave of fiery protests in February 2009 to challenge Beijing’s rule and call for the return of Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
