Buddhist Monks Throw Down

It what looks like a scene from an old Kung Fu movie, some monks in Cambodia apparently had to lay down the law of smackery.



Reports state that the events started with monks complaining that the religious freedoms of ethnic Cambodians were being trampled southern Vietnam. The marching monks, who totaled around 40, originally inhabited land that is now occupied by Vietnamese. In the protest, they made the claim that Vietnamese authorities were forcing monks to defrock and such, blatantly disregarding their religious freedoms.

To cite their complaints, the monks wanted to deliver a letter of protest to the Vietnamese embassy. Unfortunately 150 riot police, and some observers of the march (some of whom were apparently rival monks) didn't want to hear anything about it and a major clash broke out.

When the violence settled down, only two monks were injured. The riot cops were apparently very lucky and didn't receive any tiger-claw jabs nor double-footed monkey stomps.

It's unclear if the interference and clash was incited by an official command or if people in the altercation were acting on their on impulse.

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