A Tibetan exile chanting anti-China slogans briefly set himself on fire in Nepal on Thursday before his companions put out the flames, police said.

Since March there has been a series of self-immolations by Buddhist monks and nuns in southwest China, but police in Kathmandu said Thursday's staged protest was not a suicide bid.

The protester wrapped himself in a Tibetan flag and lit himself as fellow demonstrators stood by ready to extinguish the fire, Shyam Gyawali, deputy superintendent of Kathmandu police, told AFP.

"A Tibetan man, who was 25 or 26 and dressed in monk's clothing, wrapped himself with a Tibetan flag and chanted slogans saying 'Long live free Tibet' and he took out a lighter and set himself on fire," Gyawali said.

"There were friends with him who immediately put it out. Police are trying to find them all."

The protest occurred at the Boudanath stupa, or shrine, one of the holiest Buddhist sites in the world, where hundreds of worshippers were gathered for a religious festival. Police said the man may have suffered minor burns.

Nine Buddhist monks and two nuns have set themselves alight in ethnically Tibetan parts of China's Sichuan province. The first self-immolation of a young monk in March at Kirti monastery sparked a government crackdown.

At least five monks and two nuns have died, rights groups say.