This year will mark 54 years since the uprising, the Tibet Freedom Support group says. On March 10, 1959, thousands of peaceful civilians in Tibet demanded that China's Armed Forces be withdrawn from the region. The uprising was violently suppressed, forcing Tibet's spiritual leader Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans to flee the country. More than 1 million Tibetans were killed since the event.
The Dalai Lama bureau said on Wednesday that the attempted self-immolation by a monk in Nepal was the 100th Tibetan self-immolation or attempted self-immolation since 2009 in protest of China's rule in Tibet.
Dalai Lama does not seek Tibet's independence from China but an autonomy that would guarantee preservation of Tibet's culture and religion.
In sign of solidarity with the Tibetan nation, rallies to mark the Tibetan uprising has been held in Vilnius for more than a decade.
Lithuania officially considers Tibet, a region in the Himalaya mountains, a part of China; however, it has joined the European Union's (EU) call for peaceful regulation of relations between the Chinese administration and Tibet's spiritual leader Dalai Lama and his supporters.
