Yonten, a 24 year-old Tibetan, has died after setting himself on fire in the first self-immolation protest in Tibet this year. He carried out his protest in the nomadic town of Meruma, Ngaba County in eastern Tibet at around 4pm (local time) on November 26 and died from his injuries. No information is available about whether police took his body away or if it was taken back to his home.
Yonten was a monk in Kirti Monastery in Ngaba but later disrobed and settled as a nomad. The township has been the scene of numerous self-immolation protests over the past decade, most recently in March 2018, when Tsekho Tugchak died after setting himself on fire.
There have been over 150 self-immolations across Tibet since 2009. The majority of them have been fatal. At least 42 have been recorded in Ngaba, the first two Tibetans to carry out self-immolations in Tibet, Tabe in 2009 and Phuntsok in 2011, were both monks from Kirti Monastery, which has since been put under tight supervision by the Chinese authorities. There have also been repeated protests in Ngaba County, including demonstrations and solo protests, despite the high levels of security.
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