Two Tibetan protesters set themselves on fire near one of the holiest sites in Lhasa, the first self-immolation to take place in the capital of the restive Chinese-ruled region after a wave of more than 30 such incidents since last year, writes Mure Dickie in Beijing.

China’s state news agency Xinhua said one of the Tibetans died and the other was injured in the self-immolations, which it quoted the regional Communist party propaganda department as saying were “aimed at separating Tibet from China”.

The incident near Lhasa’s Jokhang temple on Sunday afternoon was a sharp reminder of the difficulty Beijing is facing in its efforts to curb a form of protest that viscerally illustrates the depth of discontent felt by some Tibetans at Chinese rule.