Rinchen, a Tibetan mother-of-three or four children, set herself on fire outside a military base near Kirti monastery in Ngaba. During her protest Rinchen shouted slogans including “Return His Holiness to Tibet” and “We need freedom”. She died of her injuries.

Rinchen was married to a Tibetan man who had died (details of when he died and the circumstances are not clear). It could not be immediately confirmed whether she had three or four children; the youngest was several months old, and the oldest in their early teens.