Beijing (AP): China pledged strict security measures to ensure that the Beijing Olympics torch relay, which begins with a lighting ceremony in Greece on Monday, is not marred by protests by supporters of the Dalai Lama.

The Communist leadership has faced a public relations disaster since demonstrations against Chinese rule turned violent March 14 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking waves of unrest in surrounding provinces.

The riots, the largest and most sustained in almost 20 years, have embarrassed and angered Beijing, which has promised a smooth run-up to the Olympics and is hoping that a successful games will bolster its international image.

``The more determined the Dalai clique is to ruin the torch relay and the Olympic Games, the more hard and good work we need to do on the preparation and the implementation of all aspects,'' Yin Xunping, a Communist Party official, was quoted as saying by the Tibet Daily newspaper. Yin is head of the Tibet Mountain Climbing Team, which is responsible for the Mount Everest segment of the torch relay.

He was speaking at a meeting organized last week by Tibet's sports bureau, whose head, Dejizhuoga, urged ``intense precautions and heightened security.''

The report, cited Monday by the official Xinhua News Agency, did not give any details of what measures would be taken. A receptionist at the Tibet sports bureau said no officials were available for comment Monday.

Mount Everest straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet. China has already begun denying mountaineers permission to climb the Tibetan side of the mountain _ a move that reflects government concerns that activists may try to disrupt its torch plans.

A fresh obstacle was expected later Monday in Athens, where pro-Tibet activists have vowed to protest at the official lighting of the Olympic torch. About 1,000 police were expected to be on hand to keep demonstrators away from the ceremony.

The torch is scheduled to travel through 20 countries before the Beijing Olympics open on Aug. 8.

China's plans to take the torch through Tibet and to the top of Mount Everest have upset Tibetan activist groups, which accuse Beijing of using the event to convey a false message of harmony in the troubled Himalayan region. Chinese Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and Beijing continues to rule the region with a heavy hand.

Tenzin Dorjee, a spokesman for Students for a Free Tibet, which plans to protest in Greece, said he wanted the International Olympic Committee to remove Tibet from the torch route. Allowing China to carry the torch through the region would be ``adding insult to 50 years of bloodstained injury,'' he said.

The Lhasa protests have highlighted accusations that China has harshly restricted Tibet's unique Buddhist culture and flooded the area with the majority Han Chinese ethnic group.

The demonstrations started by monks on March 10, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, exploded into rioting, looting and arson four days later. China's reported death toll is 22 but Tibet's exiled government says 80 Tibetans were killed. Another 19 died in subsequent violence in Gansu province, it said.

The Chinese government dispatched thousands of troops to Lhasa and the surrounding provinces of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai, where sympathy marches have erupted into clashes. It also issued a ``Most Wanted'' list of 21 protesters, appealing to people to turn them in.

In Gansu province, an official in Xiabagou said the town's Tibetans had fled into nearby mountains to evade arrest over the weekend.

``There are no Tibetans left here,'' said the official at Xiabagou's forestry bureau, who refused to give his name because of the sensitivity of the issue.

On Saturday, hundreds of Tibetans marched through the town, about six hours by bus away from the provincial capital of Lanzhou, and removed the Chinese flag from a government building, the official said. He said he did not have any other details but said order had been restored.

But ``I would not recommend any tourists to visit at this moment,'' he said. ``There are still many policemen with guns and batons on the streets.''

In Lhasa, police patrols continued, residents said, and shops were closing early.

A woman from the propaganda department of the Lhasa Communist Party municipal committee, who refused to give her name, said there were no updates on the number of arrests or surrenders.

The Jokhang temple, Tibet's most sacred shrine and the heart of Lhasa's old city, remained closed.

``Although we are still closed at the moment, everything inside our monastery is back to normal. We'll wait another few days to see what happens,'' said an official from the director's office who refused to give his name.

The government has insisted that stability has returned to the troubled areas. State broadcaster China Central Television said Sunday that electricity and telecommunications had been restored in Lhasa.

Also Monday, police in Nepal broke up a protest by 200 Tibetan refugees and monks near the offices of the United Nations by beating them with bamboo sticks and arresting 40.

The protest is the latest by Tibetan monks and refugees in Nepal's capital demanding the U.N. investigate the recent crackdown in Tibet by Chinese authorities.