Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen dies after UN self-immolation

Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen died after setting himself on fire outside the United Nations in Manhattan on July 2, in a protest that fellow exiled Tibetans linked to opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet.

Rangzen, 52, was pronounced dead in hospital about an hour after the self-immolation. New York police said they were still investigating the death.

His niece, Tenzin Choekyi, said she was in Queens watching the World Cup when she heard that her uncle had burned himself. Tibetan activists later built a makeshift shrine at the scene, with flowers and ceremonial white khata scarves.

Rangzen was a longtime activist in New York and New Jersey, where he led a chapter of the exiled Tibetan National Congress. Jigme Ugen, the group's president, said Rangzen was a regular presence at protests outside the UN and the Chinese consulate and believed he had prepared for the act.

A livestream showed a man in a traditional chuba robe placing a Tibetan flag outside the UN before flames rose around him. A UN security guard then ran in with a fire extinguisher.

Rangzen, whose real name was Lobsang Palden, fled Tibet as a young man, spent 14 years as a monk in southern India and moved to the United States in 2006. He later settled in Queens and worked as an Uber driver.

He was described as the first Tibetan to self-immolate in the United States. The act followed more than 170 self-immolations by Tibetans and others between 2009 and 2022, mostly in China, India and Nepal, after a crackdown on mass demonstrations in Tibet in 2008.

Beijing says Tibet is an inalienable part of China and says it has improved economic and social conditions there. Tibetan critics say Chinese control has damaged minority rights. On the eve of Rangzen's death, China adopted an “ethnic unity” law that critics say will further weaken those rights.

Penpa Tsering, head of the Tibetan government-in-exile, urged Tibetans after Rangzen's death to cherish their lives, saying human life must be preserved for the long-term struggle for Tibet.

In a farewell video set to be released after his death, Rangzen said he was acting “for the Tibetan nation” and urged exiled Tibetans to help build a new future.