New Delhi ( CNN ) -- Four Tibetans set themselves on fire Wednesday to protest Chinese rule ahead , hours before a key gathering of Communist Party 's leaders in Beijing . At least two of the protesters died , said the Tibetan government in exile in India , citing sources on the ground . Rights group Free Tibet says the four self-immolations represent the highest number of such incidents in one day . Hours later , Chinese leaders gathered Thursday for the Communist Party 's 18th National Congress in Beijing . The days-long gathering will usher in a new set of leaders of the world 's most populous nation . After a decade in power , Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to hand over the party 's top job to Vice President Xi Jinping . One of the dead Wednesday was a 15-year-old monk , who set himself alight with two other monks in a majority Tibetan region of Sichuan Province , said the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy . They cried `` freedom for Tibet '' and for the `` return of the Dalai Lama . '' The other two monks , both 16 , were hospitalized . The boys were from the same monastery in Ngaba county , where CNN has reported a number of such incidents in the past . In a separate incident , a 23-year-old woman died after setting herself on fire in Rebkong county ( Tongren county in Chinese ) , which is in the Qinghai Province , said exile Tibetan government spokesman Penpa Tsering in Dharamsala , India . Self-immolation is a common form of protest for Tibetans who want genuine autonomy from China and accuse Beijing of repression . China began a gradual occupation of Tibet in the 1950 's . Tibet 's leader , the Dalai Lama , fled for India in 1959 after a failed uprising , and many ethnic Tibetans followed him . Beijing rejects accusations of oppression of Tibetans , saying that under its rule , living standards have greatly improved for the Tibetan people . It makes centuries-old historical claims on the region . CNN 's Harmeet Shah Singh reported from New Delhi and Eve Bower from Atlanta .
Two of the protesters die . - The police fire tear gas at a crowd that has gathered in front of the parliament building and then use water cannons to disperse them. They want genuine autonomy from China .