Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo
The arrested monks belong to a left-wing nationalist party. Sri Lankan police have arrested 12 Buddhist monks who were demonstrating against the detention of the opposition politician, Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Late on Monday, a police spokesman told the BBC the monks would shortly be freed, but this could not be confirmed. The arrests in the capital Colombo are another episode in the bitter fallout of the so-called Fonseka affair. More>>
The arrested monks belong to a left-wing nationalist party. Sri Lankan police have arrested 12 Buddhist monks who were demonstrating against the detention of the opposition politician, Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Late on Monday, a police spokesman told the BBC the monks would shortly be freed, but this could not be confirmed. The arrests in the capital Colombo are another episode in the bitter fallout of the so-called Fonseka affair. More>>Thai protesters clash with riot police
Jocelyn Gecker (AP)
BANGKOK – Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Thai police and military troops trying to prevent them from leaving from the capital's commercial district Tuesday to stage protests elsewhere in Bangkok. The demonstrators [which recently included Buddhist monks] pushed against police lines and pelted the riot squads with eggs and plastic water bottles along a tree-lined boulevard in front of the Four Seasons Hotel. "Have we reached a point of no return? I hope we don't have to fight fellow Thais," said a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua.
