WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – A man died of severe burns near the United Nations headquarters on Thursday, police in New York City said, and Tibetan exiles and media outlets identified him as a Tibetan who attempted self-immolation in a bid for independence.
A New York City Police Department spokesperson said officers responded to a call around 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday and found a man suffering from severe burns.
The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said, adding that an investigation is ongoing. Police have not released the man’s name or disclosed a potential motive for his actions.
Voice of Tibet, an exiled Tibetan media outlet, reported that Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen “lively appealed for Tibetan independence and unity before self-immolating in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York.”
He was an Uber driver and carried a Tibetan flag to the scene, local news site amNewYork reported. The website quoted Lobsang Paljor, a fellow Uber driver, as saying he knew Ranzen from a Tibetan community gathering.
Paljor told the news website that Ranzen was “furious at the restrictions the Chinese government has imposed on his fellow countrymen.”
Enactment of the National Reunification Law
The United States and the European Union have expressed concern about China’s new national reunification law, which took effect this week and gives the Chinese government legal grounds to take action against people outside its borders.
The law creates a “common” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minorities, including Tibetans and Uyghurs, some of whom are disaffected under Chinese rule. Tibetans around the world oppose this law.
Tibetans have previously committed self-immolation in Tibet and neighboring areas with large Tibetan populations to protest Chinese government policies.
China seized control of Tibet in 1950 under the guise of “peaceful liberation” from feudal serfdom.
Regarding the self-immolation, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a daily press briefing on Friday that Tibet has been an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times and that Beijing believes “the relevant countries will deal with the matter in accordance with domestic law.”
However, international human rights groups and exiles routinely denounce China’s so-called tyranny in the Tibetan region. China rejects such an assessment.
Ethnic minority issues are extremely sensitive in China, with Tibetans and other ethnic minorities being closely monitored for signs of “separatism.” Since Xi Jinping became president in 2012, the Chinese government has tightened its institutional control over Tibet.
Tencho Gyatso, head of the International Campaign for Tibet, described Rangzen as “a tireless defender of Tibet” and said he was “deeply saddened” by his death.
The International Campaign for Tibet says there were more than 150 cases of self-immolation by Tibetans between 2009 and 2022. According to the data, there were 10 cases of self-immolation by Tibetans while in exile.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Additional reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing; Editing by Donna Bryson, Kate Mayberry and Thomas Derpinhaus)
