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Monks protested during a visit to Tibet by foreign media

Dissident monks disrupted a carefully planned government tour of the Tibetan capital Lhasa for foreign journalists.

The supervised trip was designed to show that the region had returned to normal after last week's massive demonstrations were brutally suppressed by troops who are accused of killing more than 100 people.

The outburst by a group of 30 monks in red robes came as the journalists were being shown around the Jokhang Temple, one of Tibet's holiest shrines, by government handlers.

"Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free!" yelled one young monk, who then started to cry.

They also said their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had nothing to do with the anti-government riots by Tibetans in Lhasa, where buildings were torched and looted, and ethnic Han Chinese were attacked.

The government has said the riots were masterminded by "the Dalai clique," Beijing's term for the Dalai Lama and his supporters.

Government handlers shouted for the journalists to leave and tried to pull them away during the protest. "They want us to crush the Dalai Lama and that is not right," one monk said during the 15-minute outburst.

"This had nothing to do with the Dalai Lama," said another.

The Chinese government says 22 people died, while Tibetan exiles say the violence plus a harsh crackdown afterward have left nearly 140 people dead.

The monks, who first spoke Tibetan and then switched to Mandarin so the reporters could understand them, said they knew they would probably be arrested for their actions but were willing to accept that.