Tibetan exile Jamphel Yeshi runs engulfed in flames in New Delhi on Monday. (AP)

New Delhi, March 26: A young Tibetan exile set himself on fire today and ran shouting through a Tibetan demonstration against Chinese President Hu Jintao’s scheduled visit to Delhi from Wednesday.

Police said Jamphel Yeshi, 27, suffered 90 per cent burns and was fighting for his life in hospital.

Eyewitnesses said Yeshi had doused himself with an inflammable liquid in the compound of the Janata Dal (United) office near Jantar Mantar, the protest site. Then, engulfed in flames, he ran into fellow protesters.

“He fell down and the other protesters tried to beat out the fire with Tibetan flags and poured water over him. He is said to be critical,” a police officer said.

Yeshi had escaped from Tawu district of eastern Tibet in 2005 and joined the Tibetan Transit School in Dharamshala. He has been living in Delhi for the past couple of years and has completed a course in computers.

The Tibetan Youth Congress is trying to get in touch with his mother and other relatives in Tibet.

Over 500 activists had marched to Jantar Mantar to protest Hu’s scheduled visit to attend a five-nation economic summit on Thursday where the leaders of India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa will be present.

At the site, a large poster of Hu, with a bloody palm printed over his face, said: “Hu Jintao is unwelcome at the summit.”

The police later detained scores of protesting Tibetans. Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat said he did not know how many had been taken into custody nor how long they would be held.

The Delhi police are bracing for protests by thousands of Tibetan exiles. Security around the summit location has been tightened, and roads leading to Hu’s hotel will be closed to the public from Wednesday. Hu is to leave Delhi on Thursday evening or Friday morning.

Some eyewitnesses said Yeshi was on fire for perhaps less than two minutes but some of his clothing had disintegrated and his skin was mottled with black, burned patches by the time he was driven to hospital.

Tibetan activists had been whispering this morning that something dramatic was expected, but the organisers insisted they were not behind the self-immolation.

“We have no idea how this happened, but we appreciate the courage,” said Tenzing Norsang, a Tibetan Youth Congress official.

Some 30 people set themselves on fire in the Tibetan areas of China in the past year to protest against Beijing’s rule over their homeland, according to Tibetan rights groups. At least 20 of the protesters, many of them Buddhist monks or nuns in their teens or 20s, died.

Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama of inciting them and has dubbed the protesters’ actions a form of terrorism.

The Tibetan government-in-exile today appealed to the people of India and representatives in Parliament to facilitate a dialogue with China to resolve the issue of independence for their people.