PORT OF SPAIN - NO governments have called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games over China's crackdown on protests in Tibet, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said.

'There have been absolutely no calls for a boycott, neither emanating from governments, and we have been very heartened by the position of the European Union and the major governments of the world who have all said almost unanimously that boycotts will not be a solution,' Mr Rogge said in Trinidad on Monday.

Tibet has been rocked by protests by opponents to Chinese rule and a crackdown by police and troops.

'The IOC calls for a peaceful solution to the events of recent days in Tibet,' the organisation said in a statement.

The Olympic flame is due to be lit on March 24 at Olympia, Greece, and will then criss-cross China, while also making a scheduled stop in Lhasa, Tibet.

'The Olympic flame, which is due in Lhasa in June, is a powerful symbol which brings the peoples of the world together to overcome their differences,' the IOC said.

'The IOC hopes the flame will be able to continue along its route as scheduled.'

Protest outside IOC HQ
Pro-Tibet demonstrators will stage a protest outside the IOC's Swiss headquarters on Tuesday and call on the IOC to block plans for the Olympic torch to pass through the region, Tibet Olympic Committee spokesman Kelsang Gope said.

Mr Gope said the demonstrators would march with banners stating 'Mr Rogge, your silence is killing Tibetans'.

Earlier on Monday, amid calls from some quarters that the Beijing Games should be boycotted, the president of the Swiss National Olympic Committee, Joerg Schild, called on the IOC to break its silence.

'We can't just watch and wait and say nothing,' said Claudia Imhasly, spokeswoman for Mr Schild.

Mr Schild said over the weekend that the credibility of the Olympic movement will be at stake if there is no official reaction to the recent crackdown on protests by Buddhist monks and other demonstrators in Tibet.

'Whoever remains silent in the face of the latest events gives the impression that they do not care about the fate of the people in the host country,' Mr Schild said in a statement released on Sunday.

Call for restraint
The United States and the European Union called on China to exercise restraint while the United Nations expressed concerns.

The European Union also said a boycott of the Beijing Games would not be the right answer.

'From the world of sports there has been absolutely no call for boycott whatsoever,' Mr Rogge, who is on a week-long tour of the Caribbean, added in a brief interview in the Trinidadian capital.

'We are in contact with the organisation of the Beijing Games on a daily basis. Every day we are in contact with them but the International Olympic Committee has to deal with sports, does not have to deal with politics,' Mr Rogge said.