A man died from severe burns near the United Nations headquarters, police in New York City said on Thursday.
Activists and a media outlet of exiled Tibetans identified the man as a Tibetan who was appealing for independence.
A New York City Police Department spokesman said police responding to an emergency call made around 6.30pm ET (22.30GMT) on Thursday found the man badly burned.
He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said, adding an investigation was ongoing. Police did not name the man.
open image in galleryVoice of Tibet, a media outlet of exiled Tibetans, identified the Tibetan activist as Logba Rangzen. He was an Uber driver and went to the scene with a Tibetan flag, local news site amNewYork reported.
The website quoted fellow Uber driver Lobsang Paljor as saying he knew Rangzen from gatherings in the Tibetan community. Paljor told the news website that Rangzen “was enraged by the restrictions the Chinese government had placed on his countrymen”.
The US and the EU have expressed concern about China’s new ethnic unity law, which went into effect this week and gives Beijing the legal basis to take action against people outside its borders. The law creates a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans and Uyghurs, some of whom chafe under Chinese governance.
Tibetans around the world have opposed the law.
open image in galleryChina seized control of Tibet in 1950 in what it describes as a “peaceful liberation” from feudalistic serfdom. International human rights groups and exiles, however, have routinely condemned what they call China’s oppressive rule in Tibetan areas.
China rejects such assessments. Ethnic minority issues are highly sensitive in China, with Tibetans and other minorities put under heavy surveillance for any sign of alleged “separatism”.
Beijing has exerted greater institutional control in Tibet since Xi Jinping became the country’s president in 2012. Tencho Gyatso, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, described Rangzen as “a tireless advocate for Tibet” and said he was “deeply saddened” by his death.
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