April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Tibetans sympathetic to pro- independence activists are planning suicide squads to disrupt the Beijing Olympic Games in August, including a plan for the Olympic torch to pass through Lhasa, said a Chinese police spokesman.

``To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibet independence forces is to organize suicide squads to launch violent attacks'' around the time of the Olympics, Wu Heping, the Public Security Ministry spokesman, told reporters today in Beijing. He declined to say what measures police are taking to prevent such assaults.

Tibet's government-in-exile, based in India, said the accusation is ``propaganda,'' Agence France-Presse reported.

The Olympic flame, a flashpoint for protests against Chinese rule in Tibet, is expected to go through the region's capital, Lhasa, between June 19 and 21, part of a 137,000-kilometer (85,000 mile), 19-city tour around the world. Advocates of Tibetan independence want to use the global focus on China ahead of the August Olympics to highlight their cause.

The Chinese police and government blame the Dalai Lama for inciting the violence in Lhasa, and in provinces inhabited by ethnic Tibetans including Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai. Lhasa, and some Tibetan-populated parts of western China were wracked last month by the biggest protests in almost 20 years.

Chinese authorities say supporters of the Tibetan Buddhist leader killed about 20 people and torched hundreds of businesses and homes. The government-in-exile accuses Chinese security forces of killing 140 protesters.

Non-Violent Resistance

``Over the past 50 years, resistance to Chinese rule in Tibet has been largely non-violent, due to the leadership of the Dalai Lama and the influence of Tibet's Buddhist culture,'' the International Campaign for Tibet's spokeswoman Kate Saunders said today in an e-mailed response to questions. Wu's comment about Tibetan suicide squads is ``unfounded fear-mongering'' that ``serves to exacerbate an already tense situation,'' she said.

The government-in-exile didn't respond to an e-mailed request for comment.

Chinese police didn't have detailed information in advance of pro-Tibetan protests that led to unrest on March 14, Wu said. Police knew Tibetan activists ``were planning disruptions, and we knew the general framework but we didn't know about the particular details including the time and place of the activities,'' he said.

``We didn't expect the magnitude of the atrocity of the criminals,'' Wu said. ``What happened on March 14 was a sudden escalation of violence.''

Arrests by China

Chinese police have arrested 37 people in connection with the riots of March 14, Wu said. Police confiscated 176 guns, 13,013 bullets, 359 knives and 3,504 kilograms (7,725 pounds) of explosives in Lhasa monasteries, evidence of a violent plot to overthrow China's rule in Tibet, he said. He declined to elaborate.

The government-in-exile reiterated today that their movement is non-violent and said ``suicide attacks are unheard of in Buddhism,'' AFP reported, citing spokesman Thubten Samphel.

``In recent weeks there have undoubtedly been acts of violence, rioting and looting by a minority of Tibetans,'' said Saunders of the International Campaign for Tibet. ``But the tidal wave of protests sweeping across the plateau has still been mainly peaceful, despite the severe repression that provoked it.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Eugene Tang in Beijing on eugenetang@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 1, 2008 12:29 EDT