"Information from Tibet is very difficult to get, but we have sources who are very reliable, who phone us at the risk of their lives," parliamentary speaker Karma Chophel told reporters during a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels.

"Confirmed killings, we put it as of yesterday (Tuesday) at 135," he added.

"We believe the number of people dying, injured, arrested, could be 10 times more than the confirmed reports," he added, before receiving warm applause when addressing the parliamentarians.

"Killings and massacre are going on... It is high time for people to speak up for the legitimate right of the Tibetan people," he said.

China has reported a total of 20 deaths as a result of a crackdown on Tibetan protests, 19 of them in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner seemed to support the Tibetan exile's version of events.

"One thing is clear, the number of killed or injured seemed to be in the hundreds," she told parliament.

Protests against Beijing's rule of Tibet began in Lhasa on March 10 -- the anniversary of a 1959 uprising that saw that Tibetan Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama go into exile -- prompting a crackdown by the Chinese authorities.

Tibetans are sacrificing their lives "to voice their dissent against Chinese rule," Chophel said.

"They are doing this at the cost of their lives thinking that the European countries who have political power, economic power... will speak up."

He urged Europe to make sure its "moral power is not compromised in order to have good trade relations with China".

Chophel, who will address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, said: "We are trying to awake the conscience of the world community to what is happening in Tibet, the situation is very urgency, it is a crisis situation."

Denouncing Chinese declarations blaming the Dalai Lama for the protests, he urged that an independent international team be sent to Tibet to see witness what is happening there.

European Parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering offered full support.

"We declare solidarity with the Dalai Lama. We cannot allow the Dalai Lama to be associated with terrorism, we cannot accept the demonising of the Dalai Lama," he said, to general applause.

Chophel, like the Dalai Lama, rejected the idea of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics Games in August, saying hosting the event could pressurise China to conform to international laws.

He said it was up to European leaders to decide whether to boycott the opening ceremony.

The idea of some kind of boycott has been gaining supporters in Europe.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus announced Wednesday that he would not attend the games at all.

Meanwhile Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders, in an interview with a Belgian newspaper published Wednesday, did not rule out a games boycott if the situation in Tibet worsens.

On Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy left open the possibility of boycotting the opening ceremony in the Chinese capital on August 8.

Euro MPs from across the political spectrum spoke in favour of an opening ceremony boycott.

At the fore was Green party leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit, who sported a Reporters Without Borders T-shirt that featured the Olympic five-ring emblem replaced by handcuffs.

He called for "mayhem" at the Olympics, with a boycott of the opening ceremony and high-profile protests over the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.

EU foreign ministers will discuss Tibet when they meet in Slovenia on Friday for two days of informal talks.

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