BEIJI NG, June 20 (Reuter) - Chinese officials in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, have la unched round-the-clock mobile patrols involving armed police to improve public order, the People's Public Security Daily said on Tuesday.

The Beijing Road police station has deployed six policemen on round-the-clock patrols in what local officials called a "floating police station" in a minibus, the newspapers aid.

The "floating police station," with its six policemen equipped with full arms and radiopagers, was under orders to protect people's life and property , attack criminals and maintain public order, it said.

Within just a few days the new police on the beat had handled six criminal cases and solved more than 20 problems relating to public security, the newspaper said. It did not say when the patrols were launched.

Lhasa has been rocked in recent years by several, often violent, anti-Chinese demonstrations and the city is troubled by ethnic tensions between native Tibetans and Chinese sent to help to run the remote Himalayan region.