Protesters seeking a peaceful end to the longstanding conflict in Sri Lanka last week were confronted with violence from an unlikely source when a group of hardline Buddhist monks stormed the stage at an anti war demonstration and started a punch up.

Around 1000 people had gathered in a park in the capital, Colombo, to listen to a range of speakers address the issue of non violent solutions to the unrest between the Buddhist majority and Tamil Tiger rebels. A more moderate group of monks were on the stage when their saffron-robed brethren began erecting banners, and a fight broke out between one of their number and the speaker.

It soon erupted into a brawl as the rival monks began attacking one another, and other religious leaders on the platform were caught in the fisticuffs, though no-one was badly hurt and the disturbance was quickly brought under control.

It was unclear whether the ill-fated peace rally identified any solutions, but as the Buddhists ended up fighting each other rather than the Tamils, perhaps it could be considered a success after all.

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Keywords: Buddhists, Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers