Graffitti staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese Embassy in St Julians yesterday condemning the violent manner in which Beijing dealt with protesters in Tibet.

Tibetans have been protesting since March 10 - the anniversary of the 1959 popular uprising against Chinese rule that was brutally crushed by the Chinese military - and calling for autonomy and religious freedom for the province. Tibet was annexed by Communist China in 1951.

Chanting "China stop the violence" and holding the Tibetan flag, the handful of protesters blew whistles to draw attention to their cause. The protest, which lasted an hour and a half, was photographed and filmed by Chinese Embassy officials from within the building and compound that also serves as their residence.

Graffitti spokesman Angele Deguara called on the Chinese government to take concrete steps to respect the human rights of the Tibetan people.

At one point, a Chinese diplomat unsuccessfully asked the police, who were present at the request of the embassy, to remove the protesters from in front of the embassy's main gate.

Graffitti said the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan population should be respected by the Chinese authorities so that they may live in harmony with the rest of China. The Chinese government responds to peaceful protests "through ruthless and arbitrary measures of torture and imprisonment," it said.

The Second Secretary at the Chinese Embassy, Maoyi Zhou, invited journalists into the embassy compound in order for him to clarify the official position of the Chinese government on the unrest in Tibet. He said the situation improved over the last two to three days in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He insisted that the protests were all a conspiracy by the "Dalai Lama clique", adding that it was an attempt by the clique to undermine the preparations in the run up to the Olympics.

Mr Zhou said the Tibetan protests were premeditated and the uprising in Tibet together with other attacks on Chinese embassies around the world all happened simultaneously. "Their aim is to be completely independent from China," he claimed.

It was thanks to the Chinese government that living standards had improved drastically over the last few years and that "Tibet had moved forward," Mr Maoyi insisted.