In the wake of yesterday’s self-immolation protest by a Rebkong man, thousands of Tibetan students in the region are today taking part in substantial street protests, according to Phayul.com and Tibet Post International (TPI).
TPI is reporting that some 5,000 students took to the main street of Rongpo Gyalthang township this morning at 5 a.m. local Tibetan time. TPI has also received estimated reports of 10,000 or more protesters. This movement began yesterday as thousands gathered at Dolma Square after 18-year-old Kalsang Jinpa self-immolated. Two other people have also self-immolated in Rebkong in the past week.
Meanwhile, China continues to blame His Holiness the Dalai Lama for Tibet’s self-immolation protests. Speaking to the media at the 18th Communist Party Congress, Losang Gyaltsen (Vice Chairman of the “Tibet Autonomous Region”) said, “It is the 14th Dalai Lama who should answer your question about the reason of the self-immolations, because he is the plotter of those incidents.”
