The Sri Lankan government announced that it will ban the sale of all meat, alongside the liquor and gambling, for the Buddhist festival of Vesak, which is due to be celebrated next month.
The latest move comes after Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena declared that International Workers’ Day, commonly marked as May Day, will now be shifted from May 1st to May 7th due to the festival, after pressure from various Buddhist lobby groups. This is reportedly the first time in Sri Lanka’s history that May Day festivities had been shifted.
Whilst the Sri Lankan government has been enforcing bans on the sale of alcohol on Buddhist holidays for several years, the ban on meat is a new policy and reportedly comes after pressure from the Buddhist clergy.
See more from AFP here.
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