Horror outside UN headquarters: Man carrying Tibetan flag dies after self-immolation

Law enforcement officers responded to a 911 call at around 6:30 p.m. local time and found a 52-year-old man with severe burns across his body, a spokesperson for the New York City Police Department told CNN.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Central Tibetan Administration, Tibet's government-in-exile, and a Tibetan activist in New York identified the deceased as Lobga Rangzen, also known as Lobsang Palden, CNN reported.

Videos circulating on social media appeared to show the man setting himself on fire while holding a Tibetan flag. Reuters reported that it could not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.

The incident came a day after China's new Ethnic Unity and Progress Law came into effect. According to media reports, the legislation expands the use of the Chinese language in schools and government institutions in ethnic minority regions and calls for the further "Sinicization" of religion.

Self-immolation has been used by a number of Tibetan activists over the years as a form of protest against Chinese rule in Tibet. Such incidents, however, are rare in the United States.

Reacting to the incident, the World Uyghur Congress said in a post on X: "This was a political act to protest the assimilation of #Tibetans, a day after the new Ethnic Unity & Progress Law came into force."

"WUC stands in solidarity with the Tibetan community in these dark times," the organisation added.

China took control of Tibet in 1950. The 1959 Tibetan Uprising began on March 10 that year after protests erupted in Lhasa against Chinese rule.

Armed conflict between Tibetan resistance fighters and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) had begun earlier in 1956 in the Kham and Amdo regions following the introduction of socialist reforms. The conflict later spread across Tibet and continued until 1962.

The anniversary of the 1959 uprising is commemorated each year by Tibetan exiles as Tibetan Uprising Day.

During the uprising, Nobel Peace Prize laureate the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet with his entourage, crossing into India in March 1959. He has since lived in Dharamshala, in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, where the Central Tibetan Administration is headquartered.