ANKARA
A Tibetan activist died after setting himself on fire near the United Nations headquarters in New York, according to exiled Tibetan groups and local police, media reports said on Thursday.
The New York City Police Department said officers responding to an emergency call at around 6.30 pm local time on Thursday found a man suffering from severe burns near the UN headquarters, according to NBC News.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police said an investigation is ongoing and did not identify the man.
Voice of Tibet, a media outlet run by exiled Tibetans, identified the man as activist Logba Rangzen and said he “self-immolated outside the U.N. headquarters in New York after a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity.”
Local media reported that Rangzen, an Uber driver, arrived at the scene carrying a Tibetan flag. Fellow driver Lobsang Paljor said Rangzen “was enraged by the restrictions the Chinese government had placed on his countrymen.”
The incident came as the US and the EU expressed concern over China’s new ethnic unity law, which took effect this week and promotes a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans and Uyghurs.
Tencho Gyatso, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, described Rangzen as “a tireless advocate for Tibet” and said she was “deeply saddened” by his death.
China says it peacefully liberated Tibet in 1950, while international human rights groups and Tibetan exiles have criticized Beijing’s policies in the region. China rejects those allegations.
