BEIJING, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A 24-year-old man became the latest to carry out a protest suicide to express frustration with China's policy regarding Tibet, an activist group said.
Advocacy group Free Tibet reports Gonpo Tsering, 24, was declared dead at the scene of his self-immolation outside a monastery in eastern Tibet. His protest is the latest in what the advocacy group said were 80 self-immolations reported since March 2011.
Free Tibet said Tibetans have gone into hiding following the protests.
"Some have even fled their homes, fearing a strong response from Chinese security forces after getting word of their approach," the group said.
Radio Free Asia, a broadcaster funded by the U.S. government, said Chinese security forces fired on demonstrators in Qinghai province early this week. It reported that five of the 20 Tibetans wounded in the crackdown were in critical condition.
Students in the region had protested an official Chinese publication that RFA said "ridiculed the Tibetan language."
Thousands of people took to the streets in early November in the center of the Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture within China's central Qinghai province calling for more basic rights for Tibetans.
Tibetans said they were frustrated with the marginalization of Tibetan culture in the area.
