Monks who have recently made the perilous journey across the Himalayas to exile in India claimed leaflets were circulating in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries listing the names of scores of young people ready to publicly burn themselves alive to protest against Chinese policies.Senior monks from the Kirti monastery in Aba county, the centre of the protests so far, told that they feared it was inevitable many more would die over the coming months."I am 100% sure there will be more. The situation is suffocating and there is no other way to demonstrate anger," said Kanyang Tsering, 32, a monk from Kirti living in Dharamsala.
Tsering said the towns and villages surrounding Kirti monastery were under heavy security. "There are more soldiers and police than people. All over Tibet this is happening but in Kirti it is particularly bad."
Film of the area showed a heavy presence of Chinese security authorities with patrols equipped with fire extinguishers to stop further attempts at self-immolation.
The sources also claimed that 200 officials were now based in the monastery, monitoring life there and interfering with day-to-day religious practices.