[Caution: Contains some images that may be disturbing.]

The 23rd self-immolation in the last year, and the 2nd teenager to do so in the last three days. The other was an 18-year-old Tibetan nun.

Via:

Lobsang Gyatso, a 19-year-old monk from the Kirti monastery in Sichuan province's Aba prefecture, set himself ablaze on Aba's main street Monday afternoon, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said.

Security forces beat Gyatso while extinguishing the flames, then took him away, the group said in an online statement posted late Monday. It was not immediately clear whether he survived.

Two Tibetans who tried to help Gyatso were severely beaten by police, ICT's statement said.

Also Via:

Protests by self-immolation have become more common in Tibet and in ethnic Tibetan regions of China, and at least 15 Tibetans are believed to have died from their injuries. Exiled Tibetan leaders say they fear a crackdown in the region to coincide with the Tibetan new year on February 22nd. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has blamed the self-immolations on "cultural genocide" by the Chinese but he has not called for them to stop.

The video above contains rare recent footage of the Tibetan protests obtained by Guardian journalist Jonathan Watts, who managed to gain entry to a region of China that is off-limits to journalists.

Surprising is how large the protests really are, and the military presence kept by the Chinese to attempt to quash them. Yet even under these extremely oppressive conditions, the Tibetans continue their protests with banners calling for religious and other freedoms, as well as the return of the Dalai Lama.

Watts also tells that the people in China - with their government-controlled media - remain completely unaware of the strife in Tibet.

China considers those protesters who self-immolate to be "terrorists."