Security officers have placed an important Tibetan monastery in Sichuan Province under lockdown after a young monk committed suicide by setting himself on fire on March 16 to protest Chinese policies in Tibetan areas, according to a report released late Monday by a Tibet advocacy group based outside China. The monastery, Kirti, is one of the most important centers of learning in the region. The report by the group, the International Campaign for Tibet, which has a network of contacts inside Tibetan areas, said that a barbed wire fence was being built behind the monastery, and that armed security officers inside the compound were preventing monks from leaving and food from being delivered.

“All movement of monks is restricted and monks are even being prevented from burning incense for religious rituals,” the report said. The International Campaign for Tibet said the younger brother and uncle of the monk who killed himself had disappeared and were presumably detained. The group’s report also said officials had begun a “patriotic education” campaign within the monastery.