DHARAMSHALA, December 25: Several monks have been injured as Chinese police opened indiscriminate fire on monks who were trying to stop the police from taking away the body of the latest Tibetan self immolator in Tawu County.
A Tibetan source said that the police forcefully cremated the body of Kalsang Yeshi, 37, who died minutes after setting himself on fire on Tuesday, in an electric crematorium.
Two family members of the deceased were forced to throw the remains into a river at gunpoint, the source said.
Those injured are not willing to go to hospital for fear of being arrested, said the source.
Kalsang Yeshi was a former monk of Ganden Jhangtse monastery in south India. He went back to his native village in Tawu where he joined Nyitso Monastery. He was well respected among the local Tibetans for his contribution towards the community.
Kalsang became 135th Tibetan to self immolate in protest against the Chinese government since 2009 and 116th to succumb to the burns. His self immolation is the third by a Tibetan in just less than a month.
