A Buddhist monk set himself on fire in Sri Lanka to protest the slaughter of cattle for their meat, authorities said Friday.
It was the first attempt at self-immolation by a monk in that country.
“Policemen near the temple doused the flames and rushed the monk to hospital,” a police spokesman said, according to AFP. “Just before setting himself alight, he shouted that his action was to protest the slaughter of cattle.”
The monk set himself on fire near the famed Temple of Buddha’s Tooth Relic in the central town of Kandy, authorities said.
Buddhism, Sri Lanka’s state religion, opposes the killing of any life. Nearly 75 per cent of Sri Lankans are Buddhists. Many Buddhists in Sri Lanka do eat meat, but most avoid beef because they consider cows sacred.
With The Associated Press
