A Tibetan website Tuesday shut down for a day to protest global search engine Google's decision to censor search results in China even as pro-Tibetan activists launched a "no luv 4 Google" campaign that coincided with Valentine's Day.

Phayul.com, which is popular with Tibetans across the world as a source of news and views on the movement for a free Tibet, had the words "Access Denied" emblazoned on its darkened homepage Tuesday.

Announcing the colourful website "noluv4google.com" website, Students for a Free Tibet said it had chosen Valentine's Day to announce a "mass break-up" with Google.

Taking a dig at Google's decision last month to censor results on its Chinese search service to bar people from gaining access to politically sensitive material, the organisation said Google and China were "going steady".

A message on phayul.com said it did "not have the right to deny you our contents. But we commit this offence to help you realise a fact.

"Phayul respects the right to information. People in China and Tibet are denied this basic right of an individual. And what's more, the government that should be protecting it has itself violated it," it said.

"And helping China in this serious offence is Google. Phayul condemns Google's censorship in China and Tibet."

Google's censorship has meant that people in China cannot obtain search results that provide access to websites that have references to Tibet and the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Students for a Free Tibet claimed Tuesday that nearly 3,340 Internet users had signed up for its protest against Google's policy for China.

Several Tibetan groups, especially those of Tibetan youths and their supporters, have been seeking the freedom of Tibet from Chinese occupation.

China took control of Tibet in 1959 when the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama fled to India with thousands of followers.

Some 110,00 exiled Tibetans now live in India along with the Dalai Lama. Over 30,000 Tibetans are settled in other countries, especially in North America and Europe.