Sri Lanka Court orders Budhhist monks to vacate park

A Sri Lankan court on Friday ordered a group of Buddhist monks protesting at Colombo's Viharamahadevi Park, demanding the release of hardline priest Venerable Galagodaatte Gnanasara Thera, to vacate the premises. Gnanasara, who has led the Bodu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force) since 2012, was at the forefront of a hardline Buddhist nationalist campaign that drew criticism for its rhetoric towards Sri Lanka's Muslim minority. The 51-year-old monk was sent back to prison earlier this month after the Supreme Court overturned a presidential pardon granted to him in 2019 and ordered him to serve the remainder of a six-year jail term for intimidating the wife of a missing journalist. He was sentenced in 2018.
The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court on Friday also rejected a motion filed seeking to withdraw an order prohibiting a group of Buddhist monks from continuing to occupy the vicinity near the Buddha statue at Viharamahadevi Park while engaging in a Satyagraha demanding the release of Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera. Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama issued the order after considering submissions made through a motion by a group of lawyers, including President’s Counsel Maithri Gunaratne, who appeared on behalf of the monks in question.  The Magistrate also rejected a request by the police to issue arrest warrants against several individuals accused of violating the court order.
Defying the order, the protesters, who have been camping at the park as part of their ongoing agitation, reiterated that they will not vacate the site until Gnanasara Thero is granted a presidential pardon and released from prison.The monks who arrived at the Presidential Secretariat last week, concluding a six-day protest march that began at the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, were barred from protesting there