Athens - Tibetan activists Tuesday urged the International Olympic Committee to cancel the Olympic torch relay in Tibet next week and said they would continue their protests during the Beijing Games.

The international network Students for a Free Tibet, which has disrupted the torch relay along the route from ancient Olympia to the rest of Europe, said it would continue to hold mass demonstrations around the globe, and probably in Beijing, during the August 8-24 event.

The torch relay is scheduled to travel to Tibet on June 19 and stay for three days but organizers said the Olympic flame would only end up spending one day in the capital, Lhasa.

"If the IOC board truly stand behind the universal values of Olympism then they should immediately withdraw authorization for China to take the Olympic torch through Tibet," Lhadon Tethong, head of the organization, told a news conference in Athens.

"In the unfortunate case the IOC will irresponsibly allow China to parade the torch through Tibet and the areas now under clampdown, they must at the very least take immediate measures to ensure that the international media be allowed access."

Organizers said they will also attempt to lobby International Olympic Committee officials during a three-day board meeting in Athens this week to select the candidate cities for the 2016 Olympics. The final decision will be in October 2009.

The group said the IOC had not put any pressure on China or its Olympic organizing committee BOCOG to improve the situation in Tibet, which it described as "critical."

China says 22 people died in anti-government violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in March, while Tibet supporters say many more were killed in freedom protests. (dpa)