NEW DELHI, March 10 (AFP) - Tibetan activists staged a protest march here Monday on the anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule as their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, urged Beijing to free his homeland.

About 1,000 men, women and children marched along a 10-kilometre (six-mile) route to parliament, denouncing "Chinese aggression."

"Freedom is our birthright," they shouted. "China stop the illegal occupation of Tibet."

Witnesses said some demonstrators, dressed in Chinese military uniform and bearing guns, dragged handcuffed women, who wore torn clothes and fake bloodstains, to depict alleged Chinese human rights abuses in Tibet.

The activists also carried a letter addressed to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, alleging that "repression and cultural genocide" had increased in Tibet.

"Last year ... monasteries and nunneries have been forced to close under your 'strike hard' campaign. You continue to hold in detention 1,080 Tibetan political prisoners since 1987. Over 25 demonstrations have been recorded (in Tibet) last year," the letter said.

It said more and more Tibetans every year were risking a "trek through the treacherous Himalayan passes to escape your rule and flee into freedom in India."

The letter, signed by top officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said China ultimately had to let go because the world was changing.

"More and more colonial countries have sat across the table to resolve complex stakes (like) South Africa, the Balkan countries and the Middle East.

"The Tibetan case, therefore must follow this international trend."

The Dalai Lama echoed the statement in a separate appeal.

"In some ways our century could be called the century of war and bloodshed. The challenge before us is to make the next century a century of dialogue and non-violent conflict resolution."

The exiled leader expressed alarm at increasing Chinese intervention in Tibet, including the shutdown of Tibetan-language schools and the troubled northwestern province of Xinjiang.

"The recent military clampdown in Xinjiang aimed at quelling the Uighur people's demonstrations and the ensuing cycle of violence is tragic and unfortunate," he said.

China last week unveiled legal amendments updating its Stalinist counter-revolution offences and introduced harsh laws to crush anti-Chinese campaigns in Tibet and Xinjiang.

The sweeping modernisation of the 1979 criminal law came after a spate of ethnic unrest in Xinjiang which led to the deaths of 10 in anti-Chinese rioting and another nine fatalities from bomb attacks.

In Tibet, simmering anti-Chinese sentiment led to the bombing of central Lhasa on December 25 and a series of other, unconfirmed, bomb attacks.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after Beijing crushed the 1959 uprising, however, admitted there were winds of change, recalling deceased Chinese patriarch Deng Xiaoping who "took the initiative with us to start a dialogue to solve the Tibetan problem."

"Unfortunately serious negotiations could not take place in his lifetime.

It is my sincere hope that the succeeding Chinese leadership will find the courage, wisdom and vision for new openings to solve ... the problem," he added.

He said the Tibetan spirit of non-violence and tolerance would bear fruit.

"The growing international support for Tibet reflects the inherent human empathy for and solidarity with human suffering and universal appreciation for truth and justice," he said.