Saving the Buddhist Monks who were about to be repatriated

The Buddhist Monks who were forcefully disrobbed by Thai authority

Thai police, immigration, the department of religious, Thai Buddhist Monks and the local authorities had launched a surprise raid at Watalone monastery in Bangkok where 100 Cambodian Buddhist Monks, 100 Banbgladesh Buddhist Monks and more than 100 Burmese Buddhist Monks in total of more than 300 Monks were residing at 4:45am on March 17, 2011.

The authorities forced the monks to step out of the monastery and sit on the ground in front of the monastery while checking their passports and documents.8 Burmese monks were taken after forcing to disrobe them by the authorities citing they couldn’t provide the legal documents. These disrobed monks were actually the refugees officially recognized by the UNHCR. 

On March, 23 the disrobed monks were transferred to Mae Soe police for deportation. PVA managed to save them in time before the deportation finally.

According to one of them, the authorities basically tried to raid the monastery with an aim to arrest the monks from Cambodia, which was waging war against Thailand at that time, as the retaliation. Unfortunately, the Burmese monks were the ones to be the victims of it when all the monks from Cambodia could prove their legal status. And, he also promised to report to the UNHCR about the violation their religious right by the Thai authorities who forcefully disrobed them.