'Singapore supports the declared policy of the Chinese government to protect the lives and property of its citizens from violent demonstrators with minimum use of force,' a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

'We are opposed to the politicisation of the Olympics.'

Beijing has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, of masterminding the protests, saying the unrest was a deliberate campaign to sabotage the Beijing Games.

China's crackdown on the unrest in Tibet has sparked international outrage but world governments and sports associations have distanced themselves from calls for a boycott.

Protests broke out two weeks ago in the Tibetan capital Lhasa to mark the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, which had begun in 1951 after communist troops moved into the Buddhist region to 'liberate' it.

Tibet's 'prime minister-in-exile', Mr Samdhong Rinpoche, said that 130 people had been confirmed killed in the Chinese crackdown, up from a figure of 99 given last week. -- AFP