Thai government concerned with monks' presence at Bangkok rallies

Buddhist monks are not allowed to get involved in Thai politics, but some monks have courted controversy by joining anti-government rallies in Bangkok.

What do you get when you add orange to red?

In Bangkok's early morning calm, protesters at the Red Shirt rally offer alms to Buddhist monks and receive blessings in return.

Their numbers are unknown, but they have been a steady presence during anti-government protests, now into its third week.

Traditionally, Buddhist monks in Thailand have stayed away from politics. Early last century, laws were even passed to prevent this from becoming a possibility - with fears that their moral and spiritual authority could outweigh almost all others in the Kingdom.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejajjiva has warned Buddhist holy men to stay away from political rallies, after concerns that protesters could use them as human shields in case of a crackdown.

But those who make their way daily to the site at Phan Fa Bridge disagree.

One Thai monk said: "A monk is also a citizen of this country. They have to take us into account, too. There are over 300,000 monks, but we don't even have to right to vote."

Another monk said: "I came here to be the protesters' mental support, because monks can't fight with weapons. Democracy means applying 'dhamma' to the country's rule. Therefore, monks can't help participating."

Full story.

The many red-shirts camped out in Bangkok have the right to be able to give alms to monks in the morning. The monks are not necessarily joining the protests. They might be trying to protect lay people from violence by their presence, as they do in Burma.

They're joining the protests. I listened to a 'luang pho' on the radio this morning admonishing the people of the northeast 'to stay put, refuse to go home, stop planting rice, and stop paying taxes to the government.'

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