Curfew in Sri Lankan Capital After Mosque Attack

[News_Editor]

Sri Lanka’s riot police patrol outside a vandalized mosque in Colombo on Sunday. (Photo: Reuters)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan police on Saturday declared a curfew in the capital, Colombo, to prevent possible religious clashes after a Buddhist mob threw rocks and vandalized a mosque, injuring at least seven worshippers.

A trustee for the mosque in Colombo, A. Hameed, said that four of the seven worshippers hurt in the attack on Masjid Deenul Islam have been hospitalized.

Police spokesman Buddika Siriwardena said two police officers were injured while trying to prevent clashes between the Buddhist mob and Muslim youth who gathered to defend the mosque.

The attack comes amid a growing anti-Muslim campaign by Buddhist nationalist groups who consider Muslims, who make up 9 percent of the island nation’s 20 million population, to be a threat to the political and economic well-being of the 70 percent ethnic Sinhalese-Buddhists.

“There is a limit to our patience, there is no point regretting if this breaks out into a major clash. But some fools do not understand this,†said Mohamed Miflal, a Muslim community worker. “I ask the authorities give us enough protection.â€

Buddhist nationalist groups complain that Muslims are dominating businesses and are conspiring to take over the country demographically by increasing their birthrate and secretly sterilizing Sinhalese.

Since September 2011 more than 30 attacks on Muslim-owned businesses have been reported.

Source: Irrawaddy.org

[Steely Dan]

Perhaps had religion of peace activists not set off multiple explosions at Buddhism's holiest site there would have been no blowback. Not condoning the act, just setting it in perspective.

[folium]

Perhaps had religion of peace activists not set off multiple explosions at Buddhism's holiest site there would have been no blowback. Not condoning the act, just setting it in perspective.

Are you referring to the 1998 LTTE ( Tamil Hindu separatists) attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy?

Not quite sure how this relates to Buddhist/Sinhalese nationalist thugs beating up muslims in Colombo (ironically muslims were also given a seriously hard time by the LTTE during the civil war). Also you seem to conveniently overlook the persecution of Sri Lankan Christians by the same Sinhalese extremists, and they might actually be victims worthy of concern...

[folium]

Perhaps had religion of peace activists not set off multiple explosions at Buddhism's holiest site there would have been no blowback. Not condoning the act, just setting it in perspective.

Are you referring to the 1998 LTTE ( Tamil Hindu separatists) attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy?

Not quite sure how this relates to Buddhist/Sinhalese nationalist thugs beating up muslims in Colombo (ironically muslims were also given a seriously hard time by the LTTE during the civil war). Also you seem to conveniently overlook the persecution of Sri Lankan Christians by the same Sinhalese extremists, and they might actually be victims worthy of concern...

Just to support the statement that the Christian community in Sri Lanka is under pressure from Sinhalese extremists....

http://www.persecution.org/2013/07/01/new-report-45-instances-of-christian-persecution-in-sri-lanka-between-january-and-may/

http://m.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=40865

http://mideastposts.com/showcase/bachmann-muslim-brotherhood-secret-agent/

[simple1]

Perhaps had religion of peace activists not set off multiple explosions at Buddhism's holiest site there would have been no blowback. Not condoning the act, just setting it in perspective.

Are you referring to the 1998 LTTE ( Tamil Hindu separatists) attack on the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy?

Not quite sure how this relates to Buddhist/Sinhalese nationalist thugs beating up muslims in Colombo (ironically muslims were also given a seriously hard time by the LTTE during the civil war). Also you seem to conveniently overlook the persecution of Sri Lankan Christians by the same Sinhalese extremists, and they might actually be victims worthy of concern...

Probably referring to the incident below. My reading on Sri Lanka is it's local Buddhist nationalism, in a similar vein, though not as violent, to Myanmar. Some leading Buddhist thinkers have raised concerns regarding the trend to politisation of Buddhism as expressed by Buddhist nationalists in Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/08/world/asia/explosions-rock-buddhist-temple-in-india.html?_r=0

[sustento]

"secretly sterilizing Sinhalese" - how does that work then? Do they nip into your room while you're asleep and give you the snip?

[Steely Dan]

Yes Simple, you are on the money, consolation prize for Folium who asked whether perhaps an attack by Hindus 15 years ago somehow got the local Buddhists riled up against the Muslims. Can you imagine the furore if someone of another religion mounted an attack on Islam's holiest shrine? But low and behold we have a thread about vandalism of a not particularly remarkable mosque, but none about Buddhism's holiest shrine being attacked.

With regard to Sri Lankan Christians, of course they are not forgotten any more than those driven out of the entire middle east, or blown to smithereens in Nigeria, but we digress.

My point in a nutshell is that such regrettable incidents as this, or more so Myanmar are vital in order to perpetuate the Lib-left myth of equivalence, when facts clearly show the vast majority of trouble unfortunately comes from some followers of Islam as oppose to any other religion. The fact some Buddhists retaliate shows perhaps they are not as deluded as the PC apologists of the west.

[folium]

Yes Simple, you are on the money, consolation prize for Folium who asked whether perhaps an attack by Hindus 15 years ago somehow got the local Buddhists riled up against the Muslims. Can you imagine the furore if someone of another religion mounted an attack on Islam's holiest shrine? But low and behold we have a thread about vandalism of a not particularly remarkable mosque, but none about Buddhism's holiest shrine being attacked.

With regard to Sri Lankan Christians, of course they are not forgotten any more than those driven out of the entire middle east, or blown to smithereens in Nigeria, but we digress.

My point in a nutshell is that such regrettable incidents as this, or more so Myanmar are vital in order to perpetuate the Lib-left myth of equivalence, when facts clearly show the vast majority of trouble unfortunately comes from some followers of Islam as oppose to any other religion. The fact some Buddhists retaliate shows perhaps they are not as deluded as the PC apologists of the west.

So there were no anti-Muslim attacks in Sri Lanka prior to the July 7 bomb blasts at Bodh Gaya in India....?

The delightful BBS (Sinhalese/Buddhist extremists) only came into existence due to yet another existential threat from Muslims and only ever resorts to violence as a result of Muslim violence?

This is where the wilfully myopic come unstuck. I am prepared to decry extremism of any brand or ilk and am prepared to show sympathy for the victims of extremists. It' s more than sad and mightily revealing that some people can fail to pass such a simple test of humanity. But at least it's clear for all to see.

[Don Johan Negombo]

Yes Simple, you are on the money, consolation prize for Folium who asked whether perhaps an attack by Hindus 15 years ago somehow got the local Buddhists riled up against the Muslims. Can you imagine the furore if someone of another religion mounted an attack on Islam's holiest shrine? But low and behold we have a thread about vandalism of a not particularly remarkable mosque, but none about Buddhism's holiest shrine being attacked.

With regard to Sri Lankan Christians, of course they are not forgotten any more than those driven out of the entire middle east, or blown to smithereens in Nigeria, but we digress.

My point in a nutshell is that such regrettable incidents as this, or more so Myanmar are vital in order to perpetuate the Lib-left myth of equivalence, when facts clearly show the vast majority of trouble unfortunately comes from some followers of Islam as oppose to any other religion. The fact some Buddhists retaliate shows perhaps they are not as deluded as the PC apologists of the west.

So there were no anti-Muslim attacks in Sri Lanka prior to the July 7 bomb blasts at Bodh Gaya in India....?

The delightful BBS (Sinhalese/Buddhist extremists) only came into existence due to yet another existential threat from Muslims and only ever resorts to violence as a result of Muslim violence?

This is where the wilfully myopic come unstuck. I am prepared to decry extremism of any brand or ilk and am prepared to show sympathy for the victims of extremists. It' s more than sad and mightily revealing that some people can fail to pass such a simple test of humanity. But at least it's clear for all to see.

We had for sure had many riots against muslims in sri lanka prior to the ma bohdi in India . You need to remember sri lanka is world oldest buddist nation 2600 years , no one is matching that. Thailand 1200-1400 year as a country when the Chineses left china to creat the thai/burmese/ south india Sha (thai ancestors) ... Sri lanka is a very historic place with alot of immigration from all over the wrold cos of the buddist culture . You have the ancient greeks (yavanas) who was buddists.. please wikipedia : yavanas . Kambojas (persians) buddist from east Iran also immigrated here. .

Muslims came from Iraq, Yemen, Persia as traders...and got married with local people. But last 20 years many importing islamic wifes from afganistan, pakistan , arabian countries ...that is why buddists get angry cos now people starting to use full vail, /burka

2001 Mawanella riots Also known as Mawanella massacre, shops and property belonging to the Muslim minority were destroyed and a number of Muslims were killed

2002 Beruwala riots

In 2002, sectarian clashes sparked between the Wahabbi and the Sunni sects of the Muslim community in Beruwala which left at least 3 dead and over 16 injured during police intervention in the conflic

Its allways a bubbling issue that muslim population is allways growing, and converting sinhalese girls to islam and get married to them , economic control, gold shops, pawnbanks getting girls and woman in debt and repay with sexual favours ...Halal issue , Burka/full vail issue ...sharia courts is used by muslims when they LIKE , but when they did bad things that can get them very hard penalty they go to the normal mainstream goverment courts. However that is the extremist side ...what they say is the problem

You also have at least 40 attacks on Churhces, 17 churches have closed this year, around 40 have been attacked, Even a 400 year old jesus statue from portugese times...beheaded.

My thought is that its an international conspiracy , israel and west who wants to devide and conquer and make caos in Asia , aswell you see in Middle east (ceter asia) the attack and asoult on islam.

However as catolic myself .we need to defend our community against any extremism ...ther its buddism or islam.....or forign

[simple1]

Just to note that attacks on churches in Sri Lanka are by Buddhist extremists. In the past few days Sri Lanka security forces murdered three people seeking sanctuary at a church. From a Christian monitoring group:

"Christian persecution on the island nation of Sri Lanka has seen a dramatic increase in the past year. In the last four months alone, over 30 churches have been attacked by Buddhist extremists attempting to maintain Sri Lanka's Buddhist heritage. Recently, the courts in Sri Lanka ruled in favor of a church that brought charges against a group of Buddhist extremists for attacking their church"

http://www.persecution.org/category/countries/asia/sri-lanka/

[Naam]

Perhaps had religion of peace activists not set off multiple explosions at Buddhism's holiest site there would have been no blowback. Not condoning the act, just setting it in perspective.

deplorable and ridiculous bla-bla!