BEIJING - THREE fresh demonstrations involving Buddhist monks erupted in China's northwest Gansu province on Saturday, Tibetan campaign groups said.

The main protest was at and around the Labrang monastery, one of the largest Buddhist temples outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region, the International Campaign for Tibet and the Free Tibet Campaign said.

'Tear gas was fired into the crowd,' London-based Free Tibet Campaign spokesman Matt Whitticase said, citing eyewitnesses.

A man who answered the phone at a hotel in the centre of Xiahe, where the monastery is located, also said there had been a demonstration and that tear gas was used against the protesters.