Beijing tightened security in Tiananmen Square, where the Olympic torch will be officially welcomed to the country on Monday before beginning a worldwide relay expected to be dogged by protests over the unrest in Tibet.
Fresh protests in Tibet
Tension in the Himalayan region simmered, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile and activist groups, which reported a protest in Lhasa on Saturday.
Chinese security forces sealed off parts of Lhasa on Saturday and Tibet's government-in-exile said it was investigating reports of fresh protests, weeks after the city was shaken by an anti-government riot.
The reports coincided with a visit by a group of diplomats, who were led on a closely guarded tour of the city that has been at the heart of unrest throughout China's ethnic Tibetan regions just months before the opening of the Beijing Olympics.
As EU foreign ministers called for an end to violence, the exiled Tibet body said 'thousands' had joined demonstrations in Lhasa, although a spokesman stressed details were hard to confirm.
'Around 2:00 pm local time in the afternoon, Tibetans gathered for a protest in front of Ramoche Monastery,' said a statement posted on the exile government's website.
'Also, nearby, in front of Tsuglag-khang (Jokhang) temple and Beijing East road, protests were started, and thousands joined in the protests within no time.'
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who earlier urged the world community to help end the turmoil, said he was following developments.
'I heard people of Lhasa came out in protest again today,' he said after returning to his Indian base in Dharamshala.
The area around the Jokhang temple was cordoned off by Chinese police shortly after the demonstrations began, a man told AFP citing information from Lhasa. He did not want to be named to protect his sources.
Diplomats from 15 foreign embassies, including those of the United States, Britain, France and Japan, visited Jokhang temple on Saturday as part of a one-day tour organised by Beijing.
'Obviously this has been a highly managed visit,' a Western diplomat said.
Monks denouncing Chinese rule converged on the temple, one of Tibetan Buddhism's holiest shrines, on Wednesday during a similar guided visit for foreign journalists.
Activists began rallying on March 10 to mark a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Demonstrations erupted into widespread rioting in Lhasa on March 14, and spread to neighbouring Chinese provinces populated by Tibetans.
Beijing says rioters killed 18 civilians and two police officers. Exiled Tibetan leaders have put the death toll from the Chinese crackdown at 135-140 Tibetans, with another 1,000 injured and many detained.
Compensation
On Saturday, China offered to pay compensation to the families of the civilians it says died in the Lhasa violence.
The Dalai Lama's representatives, which deny he is orchestrating the demonstrations, say the death toll is closer to 140.
The government does not permit free access to the areas, making the reports difficult to check. Chinese media has portrayed the violence on March 14 as a riot by a Tibetan mob beating up innocent people, many of them ethnic Chinese.
Their families would each receive 200,000 yuan (S$39,393), a notice from Tibet's regional government said.
'Measures are to be taken to help people repair their homes and shops damaged in the unrest or to build new ones,' the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted it as saying.
The unrest has prompted widespread concern with hundreds demonstrating in Madrid and 80 Tibetans arrested in Kathmandu in the latest expressions of support on Saturday.
Greek authorities clamped a tight security cordon around the Olympic torch, due to be handed to organisers of the Beijing Games, preventing more protests after activists disrupted this week's lighting ceremony.
EU urges China talks with Dalai Lama
EU foreign ministers meeting in Slovenia urged talks between Beijing and the Dalai Lama, but failed to agree on any boycott of the Olympics or its opening ceremony on Aug 8.
'No one is in favour of a boycott of the Olympic Games (as a whole) ... and regarding the opening ceremony nobody wished to speak about it,' said French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner after the talks.
China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after sending troops in to 'liberate' the region from what it said was feudal rule.
Tibetan rights groups have vowed to pile pressure on China over its controversial rule in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, when the world's spotlight will be put on the nation's communist rulers.
The Dalai Lama has accused China of 'gross' human rights abuses in Tibet but has also condemned the unrest and repeatedly called for talks with Beijing.
The protests are the biggest since 1989, when current Chinese President Hu Jintao was the Communist Party chief of Tibet. -- AFP, REUTERS