A Tibetan exile set himself on fire in Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, Thursday, the latest in a series of self-immolation protests against Chinese policy in Tibet.

Police say the man was dressed in monk's clothing and was wrapped in a Tibetan flag. He chanted “long, live Tibet,” before setting himself on fire. Police say the man's friends quickly put out the flames.

Eleven Tibetan monks and nuns have set themselves on fire since March in China's Sichuan province to protest Chinese policies that Tibetans say brutally suppress Buddhism. Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, calls it “cultural genocide.”

A senior Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Karmapa Lama, is imploring Buddhists to stop burning themselves alive. He says Buddhism teaches that life is precious and that every Tibetan is valuable to the Tibetan cause.

China blames the self-immolations on the Dalai Lama, accusing him of advocating violence and Tibetan separatism — charges he denies.

Chinese forces took over Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama fled to exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.