Olympic chief says no calls for Beijing boycott

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - China breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday after no foreign governments called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics over a crackdown on violent protests in Tibet even as it braced for more unrest.

The biggest protests in Tibet in almost two decades have spilled over into nearby Chinese provinces populated by Tibetans in the past week and likely to weigh uncomfortably on China, which is anxious to polish its image in the build-up to the Olympic Games in August.

"There have been absolutely no calls for a boycott, neither emanating from governments," International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge told Reuters in Trinidad.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in an e-mail late on Monday there had been a fresh demonstration spearheaded by monks of Gaden Choekhor monastery in Linzhou county -- Phenpo Lhundup in Tibetan -- in the municipality of the regional capital Lhasa.

In a rare show of defiance in the host city for the Olympic Games, a small group of ethnic Tibetan students staged a candle-lit vigil in Beijing on Monday.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala in India has put the death toll in Friday's protests in Lhasa against Chinese rule at 80.

Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet regional government, said only 13 "innocent civilians" had been killed and dozens of security personnel injured.

It was not immediately clear if any protester had surrendered to the authorities or informed on suspected rioters after the passing of a midnight Monday deadline.