Colombo, September 27: The Sri Lankan government on Wednesday slammed the police for looking on passively while a group of Buddhist monks tried to smash their way into houses occupied by Rohingya refugees in Mount Lavinia near here on Tuesday.
Cabinet spokesman Dr.Rajitha Senaratne said that the behavior of the police is condemnable. The conduct of the monks is ‘unacceptable as it disrespected Buddhism,” he added.
Finance Minister and former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has, in a tweet on Wednesday, “strongly condemned” the attack on the Rohingyas.
One of the monks belonging to the Sinhale Jathika Balamuluwa said on Facebook that the Rohingyas living in Mount Lavinia had attacked Buddhist monks in Myanmar and were terrorists. The monks accused the police of letting the Rohingyas stay here after accepting bribes.
However the cabinet spokesman said that the Rohingyas are refugees and have been living in Sri Lanka since 2008.
(The featured image at the top shows the leader of the Buddhist monks who attacked the Rohingyas)