Buddhist mobs attack five churches in Sri Lanka

GALLE, Sri Lanka — Mobs attacked five churches in the southern district of Galle, Sri Lanka, on August 2. Initial information from the Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (EASL) suggests the organized attack on the churches is part of the government’s plan to introduce anti-conversion legislation. A Methodist church in Rathgama suffered an initial attack on July 27. Christians who saw the crowd of 50 Buddhist monks and a number of young people moving toward the church that morning alerted the police, who arrived on the scene in time to prevent the monks from entering the building. The monks shouted abuse at the Christians and threw stones at the church in retaliation.

The monks then issued an ultimatum to the Christians to tear down their church by Aug. 2. If this was not done, they would return with a force of 400 monks and burn down the church themselves. One of the monks also threatened that they would destroy a total of 18 churches in the district.