WASHINGTON, June 15 (AFP) - Thousands of people from as far away as London gathered Monday at the steps of the US Capitol for music and speeches urging talks between China and the Tibetan government in exile. When President Bill Clinton goes to China on a state visit next week, "he must keep human rights uppermost in the concerns he raises with the communist rulers of China," US Congressman Chris Cox told the crowd.

"We're here because we know there will be a better time for the people of Tibet," said Cox, one of six US legislators to address the crowd of mostly young adults gathered here, to a chorus of applause. The US Capitol police did not provide a crowd estimate, but organizers set the figure at about 5,000 people. John Ackerly, president of the International Campaign for Tibet, aid participants had come from as far away as London, with others busing and flying themselves in from Boston, New York and the Pacific Coast.

"The message here is that negotiations really can happen" between China and representatives of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the DalaiLama, he said. "A lot of people in the Clinton administration are trying to convince us that it's a pipe dream, but it is feasible and there is growing support in China for it," Ackerly said in an interview. After a 2.5-hour rally, about 500 participants planned to visit their own members of Congress to lobby for a more concerted US effort to bring about talks on the future of Tibet. The event follows a star-studded concert for the Tibetan cause over the weekend and comes just days before Clinton begins a June 25-July 3 state visit to China. On Sunday, more than 65,000 people gathered at the Robert F. Kennedy stadium here for the second day of a pro-Tibet concert billed as the largest humanitarian concert since the 1985 "Live Aid" concert for African famine victims. Concert organizers cut short Saturday's show after lightning fromsevere thunderstorms injured 14 people inclu

ding one critically