Students dressed as monks marched through Edinburgh yesterday asking shoppers to remember China's human rights abuses in Tibet as the country builds up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

About 30 protesters, mostly from march organisers Edinburgh University Tibet Society (EUTS), met at The Mound and walked to the Chinese consulate in Corstorphine.

Five students, dressed up as bruised and chained monks holding oversized Olympic rings, were led along the streets, while supporters flew Tibetan flags and a banner that read "China: Passing the Torch to Torture".

It was one of hundreds of events around the world at the weekend to mark Tibetan Uprising Day - March 10, 1959, when a demonstration in Lhasa, Tibet, resulted in the death of more than 87,000 Tibetans at the hands of the Chinese Army.

James Gould, EUTS president, said: "The protest went really well. We had a lot of support from people along Princes Street and people were quite interested.

"We're not anti-Olympics, but people in Scotland must realise China is destroying the Tibetans and their way of life. We just want to make everybody aware of that."

Karma, a Tibetan living in Scotland, said: "Tibet has a football team but we're forbidden from entering the Olympics."

Mike Pringle, MSP for Edinburgh South, supported them. "Edinburgh students are fighting for the basic human rights of the Tibetan people - I'm supporting them today in this cause," he said.

Many fear that the Olympics will allow China to tighten its control over freedom of speech and religious expression in Tibet.