Buddhist monks protest in Bangkok over Indian temple bomb blasts
Friday, 12 July 2013 05:04
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Bangkok: Buddhist monks from 10 countries rallied in front of the United Nations building in Bangkok on Wednesday (10 July), to protest against bomb blasts at Mahabodhi Temple in India over the weekend.
A series of explosions in and around Buddhism’s holiest shrine in Bihar injured two persons early on Sunday (7 July), in what the government described as a “terror” attack.
The Mahabodhi Temple complex is located in Bodh Gaya, the place where the Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.
Organisers say at least 200 monks from Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand participated in the march on Wednesday.
“We want to demonstrate that we don’t want terrorism for our Buddhism. We want to have peace, we want a way to live peacefully, we want harmony and we want to cease all the suffering from the world and this is our expectation,” said monk Rev Jyotisar.
Four blasts occurred inside the Mahabodhi Temple premises, three blasts at Tergar monastery and another near the famous 80-foot Buddha statue, India’s Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami said, adding a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will probe the explosions.