March 17 (Bloomberg) -- China's provincial government in Tibet rejected the Dalai Lama's assertion that cultural genocide is taking place in the Himalayan territory and said the population enjoys religious freedom.

Tibet's culture is flourishing, state-run Xinhua News Agency cited Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Government, as saying. Another official, identified as Legqoi, said the Dalai Lama's remarks to the media yesterday were ``downright nonsense.''

The biggest protests in almost 20 years left at least 80 people dead since they began last week, according to Tibet's government-in-exile, which disputes the official death toll of 10. Demonstrations by monks in Lhasa spread into other areas of China, as activists step up an international campaign against Chinese rule before the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.

``Whether intentionally or unintentionally, some kind of cultural genocide is taking place,'' the Dalai Lama, who is Tibet's spiritual leader, told reporters yesterday in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, where the government-in- exile is based. He condemned the ``rule of terror'' in the territory.

``Particularly the local leaders, they simply rely on using force in order to achieve stability and peace,'' said the Dalai Lama, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Chinese Troops

Tibet had varying degrees of autonomy from China until the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949. It deployed troops there a year later and annexed the region in 1951.

Protests began March 10 when hundreds of Buddhist monks marched in Lhasa calling for an end to religious restrictions and the release of imprisoned colleagues. The date marked the anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, after which the Dalai Lama fled to India.

Thirteen civilians were burned or stabbed to death by protesters in Lhasa on March 14 and 61 police officers were injured, Xinhua cited Qiangba as saying at a news conference in Beijing today.

Demonstrations spread into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu yesterday, forcing authorities to deploy security forces, the Associated Press reported. In Lhasa, authorities set a deadline for demonstrators to surrender to police by today.

At least seven people were killed in Sichuan province when police shot at hundreds of rioting Tibetans in the town of Ngawa, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday, citing a resident and two unidentified activist groups.

Olympic Games

Hundreds of people protested outside Chinese embassies in The Hague, Paris, Prague, Rome, Brussels and New York yesterday condemning China's crackdown, AFP said. Some demonstrators called for a boycott of the Olympic Games.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, who rejects boycotting the Games, said yesterday the body is ``very concerned'' by the situation in Tibet, AP reported.

The IOC hopes there can be an appeasement as soon as possible,'' the news agency cited him as saying in St. Lucia.

The Dalai Lama said the event should go ahead.

``China deserves to be a host of the Olympic Games,'' he said. ``The international community has a moral responsibility to remind the Chinese government to be a good host.''

The protests are the largest in Tibet since pro- independence demonstrations in 1989 prompted President Hu Jintao, who was then head of the region's Communist Party, to declare martial law.

``We call on the Chinese government to exercise restraint in dealing with these protests, and we strongly urge all sides to refrain from violence,'' U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a March 15 statement. ``I am concerned by reports of a sharply increased police and military presence in and around Lhasa.''

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd today called the situation ``disturbing'' and said the Chinese authorities should ``exercise restraint.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 16, 2008 22:39 EDT