CHARLOTTE -- More than 50 Laotian Buddhists staged a demonstration in downtown Charlotte to protest the closing of their temple.
The Charlotte Observer reported that Monday's protest was the latest episode in a battle between the monks and their supporters against the president and board of the Laotian Culture Center of North Carolina.
In recent years, the two sides have filed competing lawsuits. The center's president, Syma Inthanonh, was even arrested on a charge of kidnapping a monk. The Mecklenburg County District Attorney's office recently decided to drop the charges.
Protesters said they have not been able to worship at the temple or visit the ashes of their dead relatives since June 18, when the entrance was padlocked and blocked by downed trees.
An attorney for Inthanonh called accusations against his client "nonsense."
Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
This is such a sad event. We
This is such a sad event. We don't see anyone padlocking or blocking doors to our churches. The community needs to donate money so these monks would have a place to live and a place to worship.
I'm sorry, but our temple is
I'm sorry, but our temple is nothing like church. The monks do have a right to worship in the temple but they have wrongly used their priviledges and took advantage of our temple. The people who are padlocking the temple doors have legal rights because they have files against certain people who are not allowed on the temple ground but who refuses to obey government orders. So, everyone has a right to worship but I think it's wrong that they use this right to take advantage of the temple.