Colombo--Sri Lanka's police Thursday blocked a protest
involving dozens of elephants as their owners demanded legal recognition to use
the sacred animals at Buddhist pageants and cultural events.
Police put up barriers at the main access roads to
parliament, but half a dozen elephants, travelling in trucks, managed to slip
through the blockade.
Akmeemana Dayaratne, a Buddhist monk who organised the
protest, said owners of tame elephants were being persecuted by the new
government of President Maithripala Sirisena who came to power in January.
The authorities have arrested several people in recent weeks
for illegally keeping elephants who are usually deployed for Buddhist temple
ceremonies.
Tame elephants covered with coloured clothing are used to
carry caskets of Buddha relics which are paraded annually across the mainly
Buddhist country where elephants are also sacred animals.
Dayaratne said there were 161 tame elephants in the country,
but not all the owners had licences.
"If we are prosecuted for holding elephants without
licences, then the centuries old traditions of 'perahera' (pageants) will die a
natural death," the monk told AFP.
Tough animal protection laws in recent years have led to a
crackdown on owners who mistreat their elephants or lack permits issued by the
wildlife department.
AFP
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