Thousands attend Sopa Rinpoche's funeral; Protests reported

Sonam Wangyal Sopa Rinpoche in an undated photo

Phayul[Tuesday, January 17, 2012 19:22]

DHARAMSHALA, January 17: Thousands of Tibetans from around the Golok region of eastern Tibet attended the funeral of Sonam Wangyal Sopa Rinpoche on Sunday morning.

Sopa Rinpoche, a respected spiritual figure in his early forties passed away on the spot after drinking and spraying kerosene all over his body before lighting himself up on January 8.

According to the Beijing based award winning Tibetan writer, Woeser, Tibetans in Amdo Golok and in the neighbouring regions of Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan were in deep mourning at the passing away of Rinpoche.

Writing on her blog, Woeser said thousands of Tibetans participated in the funeral ceremony of Sopa Rinpoche in Darlag (in Chinese, Dari) county of Golok.

http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=30704&article=Thousands+attend+Sopa+Rinpoche%27s+funeral%3b+Protests+reported

What is happening in Tibet this fall is amazing given the possible retaliation from the PRC...there is no Western media in Tibet.