Tibetan man dies after setting himself on fire near U.N. headquarters, activists say

Police in New York City said a man died from severe burns after being found near the United Nations headquarters following an incident reported by activists as a self-immolation.

A New York Police Department spokesman said officers responded to an emergency call around 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday and found the man badly burned. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police did not release the man’s name and said the investigation was ongoing.

Voice of Tibet, a media outlet of exiled Tibetans, identified the man as Logba Rangzen and said he self-immolated outside the U.N. headquarters after what it described as a live appeal for Tibetan independence and unity. The outlet reported he was an Uber driver and that he went to the scene with a Tibetan flag.

The incident drew attention amid international concern over a new Chinese ethnic unity law that went into effect this week. The law creates a “shared” national identity among China’s ethnic minority groups, including Tibetans, and has been criticized by the United States and the European Union, which say it could provide Beijing legal grounds to act against people outside China’s borders.

Activists note that Tibetans have previously carried out self-immolations in protest against Chinese governance in Tibetan regions, and that such issues remain highly sensitive under heavy surveillance for alleged separatism. International groups and exiles, however, have continued to condemn China’s rule in Tibet, while China rejects those characterizations.