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BEIJING - Tibet's capital Lhasa remained tense after a protest broke out amid increased armed police security checks, an overseas group said Sunday as Beijing geared up for the arrival of the Olympic torch.

Beijing has imposed a massive military clampdown in Tibet and other areas of China inhabited by Tibetans.

A new protest broke out Saturday in Lhasa as diplomats wrapped up a visit organized by Beijing in an effort to blunt criticism of its crackdown on the unrest.

The Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet said the protest took place after armed police moved into central parts of the city. People "started running in all directions, and shouting,'' the group said in an e-mailed statement.

It said Lhasa Municipal Police sent text messages to cell phones in the city urging citizens to "obey the law'' as security checks were carried out.

Officials with Lhasa's municipal government described the city as calm Sunday.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating protests in Lhasa and other heavily Tibetan areas. The demonstrations started peacefully among Buddhist monks but turned deadly on March 14.

Beijing says 22 people were killed in Lhasa, most of them ethnic Han and Muslim Chinese migrants, while Tibetan exiles put the overall death toll at 140.

Saturday's demonstration began at about 2 p.m. at Lhasa's Ramoche monastery and lasted several hours. Calls to Ramoche rang unanswered the next day and receptionists at nearby hotels said the monastery was closed to the public.

Canadians got to see the other side of the Tibetan independence movement Saturday as several hundred Chinese-Canadians rallied in Toronto to support Chinese rule in Tibet.

Waving both Chinese and Canadian flags, the demonstrators chanted "One China!'' and played patriotic Chinese music on boom boxes.

One middle-aged man, Pei Yiniu, said he came out after members of the Chinese community organized the event and publicized it on the Internet.

"I'm here to show that we are Chinese who want our homeland in one piece,'' he said. "All the people in China, including Tibetans, we are brothers and sisters. We are a family.''

In Tibet, protests also took place at the central Jokhang Temple, a major Buddhist site in Lhasa, the group said.

Several hundred people took part in the protest at the Jokhang, the U.S.-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia reported. It cited an unidentified witness as saying there were fist fights.

A woman who answered the phone at Lhasa government headquarters said the reported protest was merely a rumour.

"You shouldn't believe such things,'' said the woman, who hung up without giving her name. No new incidents were reported Sunday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Hong Kong media in Laos during a visit Sunday that Lhasa was "basically stable'' and that "social order has returned to normal.''

Wen reiterated China's position that it was open to talks with the Dalai Lama if he gives up his desire for independence and acknowledges that Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable from China.

His remarks came as police scuffled with pro-Tibet protesters before a ceremony to hand the torch over to Beijing Olympic organizers.

The protesters chanted "Save Tibet'' and unfurled a banner that read "Stop Genocide in Tibet.''

The Olympic torch has become a magnet for Tibetan activists and other groups seeking to use the Beijing Olympic Games in August to draw attention to their cause.

Beijing has tightened security for the Olympic torch's scheduled arrival Monday aboard an Air China plane. The torch will be displayed at a gala ceremony in Tiananmen Square, the heart of the Chinese capital.

In a barrage of criticism of the Dalai Lama, Xinhua has accused him of closing the door on talks over Tibet's future -- an apparent response to rising international calls for Beijing to negotiate with Tibetans' exiled Buddhist leader.

In a lengthy article, Xinhua cited past actions and statements attributed to the 72-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, saying they contradicted or undermined his calls for negotiations.

Police claim to have found 30 guns and hundreds of bullets along with explosives and knives at the Geerdeng monastery Friday. Flags of Tibet's government-in-exile and banners with "Tibet Independence'' written on them were also found in monks' rooms, the report said.

Police confiscated satellite phones, receivers for overseas TV channels, fax machines and computers, the report said.

Calls to the monastery rang unanswered and officers who answered the phone at police headquarters in Aba county and the surrounding prefecture said they had no information about the reports.

The Dalai Lama has condemned the violence and urged an independent investigation into the protests, the most serious anti-Chinese unrest in the region since 1989.