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NEW DELHI : Tibetan protesters burned Chinese flags and smashed China-made crockery on Monday as India gave assurances on the Olympic torch relay and reminded the Dalai Lama not to harm its ties with Beijing.
As hundreds of Tibetan exiles demonstrated here, officials trumpeted a "foolproof" plan to safeguard the Olympic torch, which is due to arrive on April 17.
"It's a foolproof project that we have worked out for the safe passage of the torch once it is in India," a top home ministry official told AFP, without disclosing the relay route.
Tibetan anger has grown since China's crackdown on protests this month left about 140 people dead, according to exiled leaders.
India is home to the world's largest Tibetan refugee population, with more than 100,000 exiles. The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, and Tibetan exiled leaders are based in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala.
Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing blames for the unrest, should be careful not to endanger India's relations with China.
"The Dalai Lama can stay here as India's guest but he should not do anything that harms India's diplomatic ties with China," the Press Trust of India quoted Mukherjee as saying.
The policy has remained unchanged since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled his homeland following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region.
In Monday's protests, activists pretended to beat up their colleagues and drag them away, imitating what they said were actions of Chinese security forces. Others shouted "Free Tibet!" and denounced Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Police later escorted three demonstrators to the embassy to hand over a letter protesting China's crackdown.
Authorities have been monitoring local protests since March 21, when a group of exiles forced their way into the Chinese embassy complex, prompting a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
Tibetan exiled leaders also rejected an article by China's official Xinhua news agency that said this proved the Dalai Lama and his administration were behind the Tibet unrest.
"The Tibetan administration strongly refutes the charges. These charges are concocted and pre-meditated with no inkling of a truth in it," the Tibetan exiled leaders said in a statement.
Samdhong Rinpoche, one of the exiled leaders, denounced the purported evidence.
"China has since the beginning of the incident in Lhasa on March 10 started to blame it on the Dalai Lama ... without any conclusive proof, and this article is the same," he said.
In Tibet and nearby areas of western China with Tibetan populations, three weeks of protests against Chinese rule have left 18 civilians and two police officers dead, according to China's count.
Exiled Tibetan leaders have put the death toll from the Chinese crackdown at 135-140 people, with another 1,000 injured and many detained, prompting international concern. - AFP/de
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