BEIJING: Tibetans staged a small protest in Beijing on Monday, a witness and an activist group said, the first such rally in the capital since demonstrations against Chinese rule of Tibet broke out last week. Around 50 people had gathered in a silent protest outside a building in the Chinese Minorities University in the Haidian district of western Beijing, the witness, who did not want to be named, told AFP.

The witness said there was a police presence and that some candles had been lit, but there were no clashes. Kate Saunders, from the International Campaign for Tibet, said witnesses had told them about the demonstration. "The university has a large number of Tibetans studying there," she said from London. Violent protests broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa last Friday, the most serious protests in the region for 20 years.

The protests have spread across the western part of China in recent days, among large Tibetan communities. 'Maximum restraint' Meanwhile, fending off mounting global pressure, China has said it had shown "maximum restraint" without using lethal force to quell the fiercest monks-led pro-independence protests in two decades in Tibetan capital Lhasa last week which claimed at least 13 lives. Beijing, at the same time, vowed to deal "harshly" with protesters who committed "serious crimes", amidst increasing international calls to Beijing, the host of the Olympic Games in August, to exercise restraint. "We showed maximum restraint.

We did not use lethal weapons. No guns were used. We only used tear gas and water canons," Tibet Autonomous Regional Government Chairman Qiangba Puncog told a news conference, as he singled out the "Dalai clique", groups associated with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, for violence that left at least 13 people dead and dozens injured.

"Thirteen innocent civilians were either hacked or burnt to death," he said, amidst reports that the protests by monks had spilled into neighboring areas, but the top Tibetan official insisted he was not aware of it. The Tibetan government in exile had put the death toll in the unrest at about 80. Qiangba dismissed the higher toll figures of about "35 to 70 to 80 deaths" as baseless. China, already under global watch over its human rights record and annoyed over attempts to link it with the Olympics, has come under a closer scrutiny ahead of the Games in Beijing from August 8 to 24, in the aftermath of the convulsions in Tibet.

The central government had made it clear to police to perform their duties in "a civilized manner" and in accordance with the law, Qiangba said. "I can tell you with full responsibility that the guns were not used at all," Qiangba said and even denied the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was involved to tackle the riots. "It is only yesterday and today that the PLA has been used to clean up the roads and maintain public order," he said. Armored vehicles and armed policemen with their overwhelming presence kept a close watch in the riot-scarred Lhasa to thwart any trouble. Qiangba said the situation in Lhasa was normal.

Tibet came under tighter control as the entry of foreigners to the Himalayan region was prohibited by the authorities, citing "safety concerns." The tourists were also asked to leave. The regional government of Tibet has suspended handling the application of foreigners to travel to Tibet for "safety concerns," a local official said. More than 20 foreign tourists had left Tibet safely with the help of the local government, Ju Jianhua, Director with the region's foreign affairs office, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua news agency.

The local civil aviation, railway and highway departments would facilitate foreign travelers who want to leave, the official said. Xinhua said schools reopened as Lhasa was gradually returning to normal. "All our teachers and students came to school, except a dozen students, because some roads damaged by the rioters are waiting to be cleared," it quoted a teacher of a primary school as saying. Wang Mu, a students driven to the school by his father, said, "I dare not to go to school, as I watched the rioters on the TV. It is so dreadful."