NEW DELHI, Nov 28 (Reuter) - Tibetan demonstrators demanding China quit their homeland staged a noisy protest in New Delhi on Thursday and burnt an effigy of Chinese President Jiang Zemin, only hours before his arrival in India for a state visit.

More than 600 protesters also set fire to the Chinese flag at a Tibetan refugee camp in the old part of the capital after being denied permission to march to the Chinese Embassy some 20 km (six miles) away.

Witnesses said police tried to stop the protesters from burning the flag, but a Tibetan woman managed to set it alight and used it to set fire to an effigy of Jiang.

About 300 policemen with tear gas cannisters and water cannon stood guard to keep the Tibetans in check. No arrests were reported.

The protesters earlier said they planned to burn 37 Chinese flags to symbolise the number of years since China's 1959 takeover of Tibet.

Leaders of the Tibetan Freedom Movement said protests would continue during Jiang's three-day visit, the first to India by a Chinese head of state.

Tibetan Freedom Movement leaders said they planned to present an open letter to Jiang written in their own blood.

"The simple message for you and your government is this: 'Quit Tibet and let Tibetans govern themselves'," said the letter to Jiang, copies of which were given to reporters.

The New Delhi office of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, said it was not encouraging the demonstrations.

"Officially, we have not issued anything. All those doing it are either the Tibetan people or NGOs (non-government organisations)," said Jampal Chosang, a senior official in the Dalai Lama's office in Delhi.

About 130,000 Tibetans live in India, 4,000 of them in New Delhi.

India arrested scores of Tibetan protesters in 1991 during a visit by Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng.