Sinhala goons destroy Jesus statue in Minneriya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2009, 19:06 GMT]
A group of Buddhist chauvinist elements forcefully removed a Jesus Christ statue from Minneriya convent on June 3 and destroyed it. The remnants of the statue were found near Minneriya tank. National Catholic Association has expressed deep concern over the vandalism against the Catholic community in Minneriya in north central province.

The National Catholic Association in a statement has pointed out that this vandalism had taken place soon after the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s declaration that there is no minority in the country and all are Sri Lankan.

Attacks were made on Catholic religious places few years back. Now once again the vandalism against Catholic religious places in the south is taking place, the statment said.

This trend should be arrested by the authorities immediately if they were to maintain law and order, it further said.

Last month a statue of Jesus Christ located close to the Negombo railway station was removed by a group of chauvinist elements, the statement pointed out.