A group of Buddhist monks disrupted a seminar for journalists from the North-East, forcing it to be abandoned, reported The Sunday Times.
The seminar, organised by the US-based NGO “Search for Common Ground”, was held in Polonnaruwa for 30 journalists from Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, when it was disrupted by around 20 monks who said they would not allow US funded programmes in the district, after a resolution was passed on Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council.
“About 20 Buddhist monks entered the hotel where the workshop was taking place and said that any US-funded programmes will not be allowed to be held in the district and they wanted the organisers to call off the programme,” the spokesman for the NGO said.
“We decided to call off the programme and told the journalists to go back home. However a few female journalists were allowed to stay overnight as they could not travel at night,” he said.
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