Buddhists gherao Singhadurbar to protest Kakrebihar crackdown

Hundreds of protesters gathered at Padmodaya, Hanumansthan, Maitighar Mandala and Bhadrakali --the entry points of Singhadurbar-- and demanded that the government ended discrimination against the Buddhists.

Their protest created traffic chaos in the Capital's heart for a couple of hours from 9 to 11 this morning.

Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) had organised today's sit-in as the start of second phase protest against the May 25 police crackdown in Kakrebihar.

Representatives of different organisations including All Nepal Monks Federation and Federation of Indigenous Nationalities Journalists had participated in the sit-in.

A Buddhist organisation had made preparations to install the idol at Kakrebihar on the occasion of Buddha Jayanti on May 25. Police, however, thwarted the plan, saying no construction can be made in the government forest.

The protesters have been demanding that the Buddhist community be allowed to set up the idol and they be assured of security, the government provided budget for its management, action against the security personnel who unwarrantedly used force on the Buddhists in Kakrebihar.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Chairman of the Interim Election Council Khil Raj Regmi has invited the Kakrebihar Sarokor Samiti for talks today.

Earlier yesterday, he had urged the stakeholders to cancel today's second phase protest.

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Two more Buddhist Monks Self-Immolate in Tibet Protest

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Beijing, China -- Two Buddhist monks are reported dead in southwestern China, after setting themselves on fire at a monastery to protest Beijing's policies in Tibet.

Tibet Immolations - updated April 25, 2013

Sources with contacts in the region tell VOA the 20-year-old and 23-year-old protesters were monks at the flashpoint Kirti monastery who had spent most of their lives at the facility -- home to more than 700 Buddhists.

More than 100 monks, nuns and their supporters have self-immolated in Tibet and Tibetan regions since February 2009, when Chinese authorities renewed their crackdown on protests against Chinese rule.

The Kirti monastery has been under Chinese guard since early 2011, when Beijing responded to a similar self-immolation by seizing more than 300 monks from the facility.

Beijing initially denied involvement in the disappearances, but later acknowledged that the monks were undergoing enforced "legal education" at undisclosed locations.

China has often accused Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his followers of advocating for Tibetan secession. For his part, the Dalai Lama has repeatedly sought to assure Beijing that he is merely seeking dialogue aimed at establishing Tibetan autonomy.

Early this year, Beijing moved to criminalize acts of self-immolation, and to jail those accused of inciting such protests. The crackdown also was aimed at targeting individuals that authorities say have sent videos and photographs of such acts to contacts outside China.

Tibet's government-in-exile has operated from northern India since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

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A Buddhist monk dies in latest self-immolation protest in Tibet

"A Tibetan Buddhist monk died in latest self-immolation protest against to end repressive policies on Tibet. He became seventh Tibetan who set himself on fire in Lhuchu county to protest against Chinse rule," Kanyak Tsering from exile Kirti Monastery told The Tibet Post International (TPI).

"Konchok Tenzin, 28-year old a monk of Mogru Samphel-ling Monastery in Lhuchu county of Amdho region, eastern Tibet (CHinese: Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province), died after burning himself on a road junction, near his monastery on Tuesday evening, at approximately 7am locally.," the sources coming out of the region said.

As Chinese authorities bar customary religious rituals to enforce quick cremation of Tibetan who self-immolated, local Tibetans in Lhuchu county immediately "took his body for cremation near the monastery after holding a traditional prayer service on the same day the incident occurred," according to the same source.

This incident has pushed the total number of self-immolations in Tibet to 114 since 2009, 96 of them reportedly passed-away due to burn injuries.

Most self-immolators were lay and the younger generation of Tibetans in recent months, who are speaking up against the Chinese regime's failed policies in Tibet, called for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and freedom for Tibetan people.

Beijing rejects any criticism of its rule, pointing to economic development of Tibet. Tibetans say its not because of China, these kinds of development can be seen in every corner of the world.

He was survived by his parents- Lhakho and Lhamo Tso and six brothers and sisters. Konchok was the youngest of his siblings. He joined the Monastery at his young age to study the monastic ritual prayer texts-Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. After finishing monastic ritual studies, he started to learn Tibetan Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan literature, according to the sources.

Mogru Samphel-ling Monastery or Zamtsai Mogru Geden Jampehl-ling monastery is situated in Lhuchu county, Amdho region of eastern Tibet. The monastery was founded in 1780 by Zamtsa Sertri Jigmey Namkha, a well-known Tibetan Buddhist scholar.

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Monks Stage Protest in Rangoon

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RANGOON, Burma -- Buddhist monks took to the streets in Burma’s former capital on Saturday to show solidarity with fellow monks who were injured during a crackdown on protests late last month and to demand an apology from the country’s president.

<< Buddhist monks and their supporters march through downtown Rangoon to demonstrate against a crackdown on protests late last month. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)

In the latest display of political activism by the Buddhist clergy, more than a dozen Rangoon monks gathered under the shadow of Shwedagon Pagoda and marched to downtown Sule Pagoda at 1:30 pm yesterday.

Joined by nearly 100 laymen, the monks carried Buddhist flags and posters showing graphic pictures of monks suffering from severe burns caused by incendiary devices used by police in a pre-dawn raid on six protest camps near the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Division.

The Nov. 29 crackdown was the most violent response to civil disobedience since reformist President Thein Sein took office last year. More than 90 monks were hospitalized for injuries inflicted during the raid.

“We want to know who was behind the brutal attack on our fellow monks. We want the president say something to restore justice,” said Pyinnya Wuntha, a 62-year-old monk, during the march.

“Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country but we have been inhumanly attacked since 2007 by authorities who boast that they are devout Buddhists,” said another monk, referring to the crackdown on the 2007 monk-led Saffron Revolution.

Since the raid, small protests against the crackdown have erupted across Rangoon, and six people actively involved have been charged with inciting unrest.

However, the police did not interfere with yesterday’s demonstration, nor were there any security forces to be seen during the hour-long rally.

Earlier this month, officials, including the religious affairs minister, apologized to the Sangha Mahanayaka, a senior monks body, for what happened during the raid.

“The government is going in the wrong direction. They are apologizing to those who were not affected by their attack,” said Buddhist monk Aggha, 27, after reading out a five-point statement that included calls for a presidential apology, the immediate release of those detained and medical care for injured monks.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Buddhist monks in Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city, and Monywa, a town near the copper mine, also staged protests yesterday.

In the wake of the raid, the government urgently formed a 16-member investigation commission headed by the Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to probe the incident and whether the mine should continue to operate. It has to submit its findings by Dec. 31.

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Toronto Area Buddhist Monks protest Bangladesh's violence

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Monks protest to cruelty of Anti-Buddhist Moslem Extremists by invoking blessings for enemies’ well being

Toronto, Canada -- History was created in Canada last Saturday - 12th October 2012 - as Buddhist Monks from temples across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) came out of the seclusion of their monasteries and gathered at the Downtown Speakers Corner of the Nathan Philips Square to add their voices to the ongoing demonstrations around the world protesting last week’s spate of targeted barbaric and violent attacks on Buddhists by Moslem extremists in the Chittagong Region of Bangladesh.

Amid fears and a disturbing tendency among the Bangladeshi majority Moslems throughout the Nation to feel threatened by the ‘handful’ of innocent Buddhists who have heroically and steadfastly preserved their ancient and hallowed Buddhist Tradition without much help from their own government or surrounding / neighbor Buddhist Nations in Asia. While nearly 3 million Hindus fled to India over the brutal suppression by Pakistani soldiers in the wake of the 1970-1971 crises, Buddhists remained stay put, with intent to preserve their religion and Bengali cultural heritage.

Last few weeks saw nearly 45 Buddhist Temples incinerated in different parts of the Chittagong Region of Bangladesh. Hundreds in violent gangs had set on the Temples attacking the venerable monks and causing them bodily harm and had gone on rampage leaving homes of Buddhists in the area looted and gutted as law enforcement officers watched and waited doing nothing to stop the violence until the Government decided to call the Army to contain the violence against innocent Buddhists and protect their homes.

Many Buddhist temples, some centuries old, have been sacked, torched and desecrated, Buddha statues disfigured, sacred relics venerated by devotees completely destroyed and many libraries with rare, valuable and manuscripts and books burnt. This tell-tale episode of religious persecution and atrocities against Buddhists with no parallel in modern times has hurt Buddhist Communities the world over and particularly among the devotees of West End Buddhist Temple and the Toronto Mahavihara where the Bangladeshi Buddhist s and Indian Buddhists in the GTA respectively worship.

Last Weekend, Saturday, October 13th, Buddhist Monks in the Greater Toronto Area, gathered in large numbers in a peaceful procession at the Speakers Corner to express their solidarity and oneness with fellow Buddhists of Bangladesh.

The peaceful protests were initiated by Ven. Bhikkhu Bhante Saranapala, a Bangladeshi Buddhist Monk, attached to the West End Buddhist Temple & Cultural Centre, its Abbot Incumbent, Most Ven. Kulugammana Dhammawasa Nayaka Thera, Most Ven. Ven. Ahangama Rathanasiri Nayaka Thera, Abbot Incumbent of Toronto Mahavihara and Most Ven. Ashin Kawwida Maha Thera, Abbot Incumbent, of the Maha Dhammika Burmese Buddhist Temple in Toronto along with a few leading Buddhists in the GTA belonging to Bangladesh and Sri Lankan Buddhist Faith Communities.

They had formed themselves into an ad hoc Sangha Council which called upon the monasteries and Temples in the GTA to gather to perform ‘Satyakriya’  or Affirmation of the Truth” ritual, a typically Buddhist version of a peaceful demonstration sans loud and raucous slogan shouting.

As Buddhist monks from diverse Buddhist traditions from Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Japan, Cambodia, Laos and India stood on parade in near silence  at the Speakers Corner along with their respective Buddhist communities, many sympathizers and Saturday afternoon shoppers in the busy Toronto Downtown were seen to take part in the public peaceful protest display.

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Monk protest in Bangkok against Bangladesh unrest

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BANGKOK, Thailand -- About 300 Buddhist monks demonstrated in the Thai capital Bangkok on Wednesday against recent attacks by Muslim mobs targeting temples and houses in Bangladesh.

<< Bangladeshi monks studying Buddhism in Thailand display signs and pictures of destruction in their country as they hold a demonstration calling for an end to attacks against Buddhist communities in Bangladesh, in front of the United Nations regional office in Bangkok. (AFP - Christophe Archambault)

Holding signs reading "No More Violence We Want Peace" and "Stop Muslim Terrorism on Bangladesh Buddhist", the monks from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand massed outside the UN offices to call for a probe into the unrest.

"We don't want to blame anyone, but we want this barbaric incident to stop because now Buddhist followers have to seek protection from police around the clock," one of the event organisers, Kanraya Tasanasarit, told AFP.

Bangladesh police said Tuesday they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with the violence, which saw Buddhist temples and homes damaged or set on fire.

Buddhists, who make up less than one per cent of Bangladesh's 153 million mostly Muslim population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

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Turmoil over Salt Lake Buddhist temple prompts protest

Last October, members of the Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Association of Utah were displaced from the temple located at 1185 W. 1000 North. A legal battle has ensued over who owns the property and members of the congregation of more than 100 fear it could take the beloved temple away them.

Chanting, "Give back our temple. Give back our temple," protesters on Saturday went to another Buddhist temple in West Valley City, where a group of monks had gathered for a national conference.

The monks are members of the Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress in the United States of America. For the past year, the two groups have been embroiled in a legal battle over property rights to the temple in Rose Park.

The Utah group agreed to donate the property to the congress, but that deed was given to a monk without the local group's knowledge.

"So they are very frustrated and they want the congress to return back to them the title," said congress spokesman Thuan Tran.

Litigation is ongoing, but the dispute has divided the Salt Lake Buddhist community. Local temple leaders even suspected the dispute had something to do with a break-in at their business office two weeks ago, although police have made no arrests in the case.

Utah Sen. Luz Robles, D-Salt Lake, is not involved in the lawsuit but both temples are in her district. She showed up to offer her support to both sides.

"It's a big deal, especially for the Vietnamese Buddhist community,? Robles said. ?It's becoming more of a pertinent issue. ? There's some frustration going on."

The frustration has been mounting among the local congregation that has worshiped at the Rose Park temple for 19 years. It's also a sacred burial ground for their loved ones who have passed on.

"Suddenly, they've been deprived of their religious freedom and deprived of their rights to worship, the rights to worship their ancestors and that is very much hard for them to swallow," Tran said.

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Thousands of Buddhist monks protest construction of mosque in Sri Lankan town

About 2,000 protesters, including 300 monks, waiving Buddhist flags and shouting slogans on Friday marched from the Dambulla town to the mosque at Kandalama a few kilometers away.

The police intervened as protestors entered the mosque and asked the devotees to leave after Friday prayers ended.

Local administrative officials has said the construction of the mosque was illegal and its removal would be done starting next Monday.

However, the worshippers claim that the mosque has been there for decades and is legal.

The protest came as a powerful leading Buddhist monk blamed the authorities for allegedly selling lands within the sacred Buddhist zone of Dambulla to non-Buddhist elements.

The authorities denied the charge. A similar protest in the area in 1992 couldn't prevent the construction of a five star hotel at Kandalama.

The hotel remains a leading eco tourism location in the island. About 7 per cent of Sri Lanka's 20 million people are Muslims.

About 74 per cent are Sinhalese, who are mostly Buddhists, while about 18 per cent are Tamils, who are predominantly Hindus or Christians.

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Monks end rare Myanmar protest

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MANDALAY, Myanmar -- Five Buddhist monks ended a rare protest in Myanmar on Wednesday, after they attracted hundreds of onlookers with their demands for peace and the release of all political prisoners.

The protesters called off their action at a monastery in the country's second-largest city of Mandalay  after up to 700 people, most of them monks, gathered to hear an hour-long speech by the main demonstrator.

The rally was thought to be the first since mass protests led by monks in 2007 - known as the "Saffron Revolution" - were brutally quashed, with the deaths of at least 31 people and the arrest of hundreds of monks.

The two-day protest came as ministers at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the Indonesian island of Bali recommended that Myanmar should be handed the rotating chairmanship of the bloc in 2014.

Hopes for change in Myanmar have grown recently following a series of reformist gestures as the country appears keen to end its international isolation, but pressure is still on for the release of all political detainees.

This was a key demand of the monks, who unfurled banners in English and Burmese reading: "Free all political prisoners" and "Stop civil war now" - a reference to the decades-long conflict between the army and ethnic minority rebels.

Their third demand is freedom of speech for monks.

They had earlier vowed to keep up their protest until Friday, but called it off early after senior religious clerics at Masoeyein monastery asked them not to continue, protest leader Ashin Sopaka told AFP.

He said the rally had been "very satisfying" and insisted this was not the end of the road.

"We will continue working for peace. If our three demands are not fulfilled we must push on with them," he said.

The five demonstrators drew hundreds of people, including many monks and dozens of plain-clothes police, when they started their protest on Tuesday after an expected amnesty for political detainees failed to materialise.

Myanmar's nominally civilian government that replaced a military junta in March has surprised critics by holding direct talks with opposition leader and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and freezing work on an unpopular mega-dam.

But the release of all of the country's political prisoners, whose exact numbers remain unclear, remains one of the major demands of Western nations which have imposed sanctions on Myanmar.

Activists have criticised the plan to hand the ASEAN chair to Myanmar in 2014, saying it could remove the incentive for more fundamental change in a nation still accused of serious rights abuses.

Authorities had been expected to free some political detainees on Monday before President Thein Sein attends the ASEAN meeting later this week.

But officials said the move was put off at short notice for reasons that remain unclear.

The Mandalay protest came after police in September prevented a planned rally by some 200 pro-democracy activists on the fourth anniversary of the bloody crackdown on the 2007 monk-led uprising.

Another monk who took part in Wednesday's action said: "We would like to say to the president: implement our demands as soon as possible."

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Chinese town under siege as Tibetan monks protest

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ABA TOWN, China -- Police in full riot gear carrying automatic rifles and iron bars stand guard outside a huge Tibetan monastery in southwest China, the scene of a series of self-immolations by Buddhist monks.

<< Kirti Monastery

The residents of the Kirti monastery - one of the most important in Tibetan Buddhism - have been living under these siege-like conditions since a young monk set light to himself in protest at religious repression in March and died.

Since then, rights groups say five monks have burned themselves to death at the monastery in the small town of Aba, where a Buddhist nun this week became the first woman to self-immolate in a dramatic escalation of the protests.

Hours after the death of the nun Tenzin Wangmo on Monday, two AFP journalists gained rare access to the town in Sichuan province, high on the Tibetan plateau and famous for its centuries-old Buddhist temples.

Rights groups say nine monks and nuns have now set themselves alight in Sichuan and surrounding areas, with Aba town and the Kirti monastery becoming a flashpoint for the mounting anger at the erosion of Tibetan culture.

Police, many carrying riot shields and armed with clubs and iron, lined the streets of the town, which has a population of around 20,000 mainly ethnic Tibetans who say their culture is being eroded by China's government.

Large groups of soldiers in camouflage carried automatic rifles, metal rods with spiked tips and fire extinguishers, while police buses, trucks and armoured personnel carriers blocked the streets.

Shops and restaurants remained open and people went about their daily business on the streets of Aba, but police were checking all vehicles moving in and out of the town, slowing traffic through the main street to a crawl.

AFP's reporters were unable to gain access to the Kirti monastery, but saw large groups of police stationed outside the sprawling complex, as red-robed monks walked around inside.

Campaign groups Free Tibet and the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) say there used to be more than 2,000 monks living in the monastery, but the number has now dwindled to fewer than 1,000.

They say that in recent months hundreds of monks have left the monastery, some of them taken away by authorities to undergo compulsory "patriotic re-education" programmes, and that the recent spate of self-immolations is a sign of the desperation they feel.

Many Tibetans in China are angry about what they see as growing domination by the country's majority Han ethnic group.

The latest government crackdown in the area was sparked by the death in March of Phuntsog, a young Kirti monk who set himself on fire on the third anniversary of anti-Chinese riots that shook Lhasa in March 2008, the bloodiest in Tibet in 20 years.

His death sparked mass protests in Aba and the surrounding area, known as Aba county.

Last month, China jailed three monks for between 10 and 13 years for helping Phuntsog to burn himself to death, sparking an international outcry.

Few, if any, foreign journalists have gained access to the town since then and AFP's reporters were briefly detained by police, who confiscated one camera and deleted photographs of police and the military presence.

"You can take pictures of all the scenery you want, but you cannot take pictures here," one policeman said. "You are free to leave. You must not stop until you have left (Aba) county."

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Peaceful Protest Marks Saffron Revolution Anniversary

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Rangoon, Burma -- Dozens of Rangoon residents marched peacefully through the city on Monday to mark the fourth anniversary of the Saffron Revolution only to be stopped by security forces, according to local sources.

<< The September 26, 2007 "Saffron Revolution", saw thousands of monks protest against the Burmese military regime, which ended in a brutal crackdown

Onlookers watched around 200 marchers, some of them were wearing yellow shirts, set off peacefully from Sule Pagoda in downtown Rangoon at around 1 pm local time towards Kabar Aye Pagoda in North Okkalapa Township.

The Saffron Revolution was led by Buddhist monks across Burma in September 2007. The peaceful protests were brutally quashed by government troops in a crackdown which claimed 31 lives including many monks, according to government figures.

Security guards closely followed and monitored Monday's protest with many officers also deployed near Sule Pagoda. But there is no violent crackdown against the protesters and the event took place peacefully.

“They didn’t shout and hold placards. They just marched peacefully but some wore yellow shirts,” said a witness.
Dozens of people also launched a separate demonstration in North Okkalapa on Monday. They were blocked by Burmese authorities before ending the march peacefully. They repeated the “Metta Sutta” (Buddhist chant for compassion) after being blocked by security forces but then decided to end the march, said a protester.

Meanwhile, separate ceremonies to mark the fourth anniversary of the Saffron Revolution were also held in Rangoon today. Burma opposition party the National League for Democracy held a ceremony at a monastery in southern Okkalapa Township with around 1,000 attendees including monks, party members, representatives of the 88 Generation Student Group, individual MPs and other politicians.

They also called for the immediate release of all political prisoners without condition. An estimated 1,998 political prisoners are currently detained across Burma, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

While some of the protesters present on Monday were activists who demand the release of political prisoners, others were campaigning against the Myitsone Hydropower Dam in Kachin State on the Irrawaddy River.

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