Openly racist Sinhala monk ‘blesses’ anti-government protests in Sri Lanka

 

13 April 2022

A fervently racist Sinhala Buddhist monk joined other clergy members in prayers ‘blessing’ the anti-government protests currently underway at Galle Face Green in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

Omalpe Sobitha, a monk who is also a MP with the extremist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), was one of several monks that was spotted at Galle Face on Tuesday.

The monks handed over a petition to Sri Lankan police officers, calling for a new government and prime minister, as well as other the implementation of other proposals by the Sinhala Buddhist clergy.

Sobitha has openly admitted to being racist in the past. In 2013, he told Ceylon Today,

“It is true we are racists. It is true we are religious fanatics. Yet, we are not the authors of racism and religious fanaticism in this country”.

Read more: ‘We are racists’ says JHU

The statement was just one of several racist comments he has made in the past.

In 2019, he called for Sri Lanka to withdraw from the Commonwealth in retaliation to the newly elected British Prime Minister’s call for reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka. 

In 2014, he called the persecution of Muslims in Sri Lanka 'a lie'. 

In 2010, he accused the United Nations of "acting as an agent of terrorism", after it appointed a panel to investiage war crimes on the island.

Though protestors in Battaramulla turned away a Sinhala Buddhist monk who leads the nationalist Janasetha Peramuna party earlier this month, there was no such clamour to eject Sobitha from the protests, despite his open racism.