Five Tibetans protest against the Congress with self-immolations – China needs a new Tibet-policy!

Following the self-immolations of five Tibetans shortly before today's opening of the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) calls for a new Chinese Tibet-policy. "China's new leadership must fundamentally rethink policies regarding Tibet and the nationalities to avoid an escalation of the conflicts in Tibetan areas," said the STP's expert on questions regarding Asia, Ulrich Delius, in Göttingen on Thursday. "China's Tibet-policy has failed. If China's leaders are not willing to enter a dialogue, the wave of terrible self-immolations will continue."

On Wednesday, five Tibetans burned themselves as a form of protest against China's policy on Tibet – including three teenagers of 15 and 16 years of age. This is the highest registered number of self-immolations on a single day, since a new wave of suicides began in Tibet in February 2009. The number of politically motivated suicides in Tibet has now increased to 68.

At least two Tibetans were killed in the self-immolation attempts on Wednesday. Among the dead are the 15-year-old monk Dorje and the 23-year-old Tamdrin Tsoe. Before she drenched herself with gasoline and set herself on fire, the young mother who died in the eastern province of Qinghai demanded that the Dalai Lama should be able to return to Tibet. 3,000 Tibetans living in this area protested for a free Tibet after her suicide. The latest self-immolations took place in the provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

After these acts of desperation, the authority's safety measures in Tibetan areas were again intensified significantly. In parts of the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Gansu Province) – where more than 50 percent of the inhabitants are Tibetans – the sale of SIM cards for mobile phones was prohibited. Internet cafés were closed randomly and the mobile phone network was interrupted.

In several Tibetan areas, the sale of gasoline and flammable liquids is now prohibited. Near the ancient Tibetan capital of Lhasa, empty plastic bottles and cans were confiscated by the police.