BEIJING, Jan 1 (AFP) - University of Tibet students staged a rare protest against a decision forcing them to follow a history course in Chinese instead of in their native Tibetan, a Tibetan group said Wednesday.

But the demonstration in December was eased after the university authorities convinced students to cancel a planned march through the streets of the capital Lhasa, the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) said in a statement.

"The students were expected to march to local administrative offices in Lhasa to deliver a petition, according to one report, but the university persuaded them to remain on the campus by promising to deal with the issue internally," it said.

The 20 protestors wanted to "show support for a group of up to 30 students who had formally complained about the history course decision," it said.

Followers of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, accuse Beijing of maintaining a policy of forcibly assimilating the Himalayan territory into China since it was occupied by Chinese troops in 1951.

In May , the China's Communist Party launched a crackdown on the Dalai Lama's followers by banning all pictures of the exiled leader from monasteries.

The move came after a heated dispute with him over identifying the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second highest figure.

Chinese troops took over Tibet in 1951 and then put down an abortive uprising in 1959, prompting the Dalai Lama to flee to India.