ANURADHAPURA, Sri Lanka, Nov. 12:
A protest that its organisers call a satyagraha, the word Gandhi coined for nonviolent resistance, ended in bloodshed on Thursday morning outside one of Sri Lanka's most venerated Buddhist monuments. Two groups led by clergy came to blows, and a controversial former monk was taken to hospital with a head wound.
Rajanganaya Saddharathana, who was expelled from the monastic order last year but is still widely addressed as a thero, was allegedly struck with a club by members of the group at the protest site. His head was split open and he bled heavily. He was admitted to hospital for treatment. There was no official word on his condition by Thursday afternoon.
His robe was also stripped from his upper body during the fight. Photographs taken at the scene show him bare-chested. It was not clear who removed it.
Police later took Ven. Balangoda Kassapa Thero and two other monks who were on a fast unto death at the site into custody. Police did not say whether the three would be charged, or on what grounds.
Accounts of how the fight started differ. By one account, the trouble began when a group of laypeople led by Saddharathana arrived at the protest site and got into an argument with Kassapa Thero and others gathered there. Some of the arriving group were said to be carrying poles, and the argument quickly turned into a physical fight. By another account, the group around Kassapa Thero confronted Saddharathana's party. Kassapa Thero himself has been accused of taking part in the attack. Neither side had made a public statement by Thursday afternoon.
The satyagraha began on Nov. 7. Kassapa Thero and the monks with him started their fast unto death on Wednesday. They have been camped on the grounds of a dansal, a hall where pilgrims are traditionally given free food and drink.
The protesters want the government to withdraw the gazette notification for the Anuradhapura Sacred City Development Plan and to stop what they call construction in the sacred area. They are also seeking a pardon for Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, who is in prison. The plan, announced in February, would enlarge the protected area by 10 square kilometers at a cost of 8.8 billion rupees. Officials say it covers infrastructure and conservation and involves no new construction.
The robe has been a sensitive issue for the movement. Last month, Gnanasara Thero appeared in court in white civilian clothing in place of his saffron robe. The uproar led the President to invite senior monks from the three main chapters to the Presidential Secretariat to discuss it. Ven. Ittapana Dhammalankara Mahanayake Thero said at the time that only Buddhist monks have the authority to remove a fellow monk's robes. Saddharathana's own chapter expelled him in 2025, but he has continued to wear the robe and be addressed as a thero.
The protest has been running into the courts since it began. Anuradhapura Police obtained a restraining order on Nov. 7 directing the monks to leave the site. They stayed. On Nov. 9, Chief Magistrate Siyapath Sasindu Wickramaratne ordered five monks, including Kassapa Thero, to appear before court on Nov. 20.
Both men are familiar to the police. Kassapa Thero was arrested in February 2023 during a protest by monks near Parliament against plans to fully implement the 13th Amendment. In January this year he was among nine people remanded over an incident involving a Buddha statue in Trincomalee.
Saddharathana runs a YouTube channel and has a long record of public disputes. Police arrested him in Anuradhapura in May 2023 over statements alleged to threaten religious harmony. In April 2025, the Working Committee of the Sri Lanka Ramanna Maha Nikaya expelled him from the Sangha. Thursday's hospitalisation was his second in five months. In June, two masked men arrived in a van, attacked him and fled. Police said they had not established the motive or the identities of the attackers.
The clash comes in a difficult year for the Buddhist clergy. In May, Pallegama Hemarathana Thero, the 71-year-old custodian of eight sacred sites, was arrested over the alleged sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl. Days earlier, 22 monks returning from Thailand were arrested at the main international airport with a record 242 pounds of cannabis.
Kassapa Thero and four other monks are due before the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate's Court on Nov. 20.
