Tibet’s leaders in exile have warned Beijing not to assume that Tibetan protests against brutal Chinese rule will always be non-violent – even if a spate of self-immolations by demonstrators has so far not harmed “even a Chinese bicycle”.

Lobsang Sangay, who succeeded the Dalai Lama as the political head of the India-based Tibetan administration, compared the situation in the Himalayan territory of Tibet with that in neighbouring Xinjiang, where Muslim separatists have launched a series of lethal attacks on Chinese targets with knives and bombs.

Mr Sangay said intense Chinese repression had forced Tibetans to turn from peaceful protests to setting themselves alight to publicise their demands for freedom and the return home of the exiled Dalai Lama, and warned that worse might follow.