Tuesday, 27 August 2013 00:11
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Buddhist monks from the controversial Ravana Balaya movement led a protest against visiting UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay in front of the United Nations Compound at Bauddhaloka Mawatha yesterday, demanding that the UN cease interference in Sri Lankan affairs.
Over 100 Police and Riot Police personnel deployed for crowd control in front of the UN Headquarters greatly outnumbered the demonstrators, many of them child monks and women.
Bauddhaloka Mawatha was closed to vehicular traffic during the protest, which lasted about 90 minutes.
Police pushed back demonstrators when they attempted to enter the UN compound to hand over a petition. Demonstrators tried to break Police barricades, leading to a mini-scuffle with some of the demonstrators, including a few monks.
Holding placards that read ‘Have you got nothing else to do, Pillay?’ and ‘Go to Iraq, don’t come to Sri Lanka,’ the protestors shouted racist slogans as they attempted to break through the Police barricade and termed High Commissioner Pillay’s visit “anti-Sri Lankan”.
