A protesting Buddhist monk remained on his precarious perch 20 metres up an antennae mast on Friday after climbing it on Thursday in defiance of attempts to move his monastery off land owned by a bank in Bangkok’s Thawi Watthana district.
Thammasala police and rescue workers were dispatched to soi 22 on Phutthamonthon Sai 3 Road after the monk's protest began around 11am on Thursday.
They found Phra Kru Palat Theerathanatcha Metthathammo, head of a Buddha jayanti monastery, wearing his robe but with climbing safety gear, sitting on board lodged in the mast 20 metres above the ground.
The monk said he intended to stay there and practice Dhamma for about 10 days. He declined to negotiate with authorities and said he would climb higher if officials tried to pursue him up the mast.
Nearby residents said the mast is on five rai of land occupied by an unfinished resort. When construction of the resort began it was on privately owned land. The company ran into financial problems and a bank repossessed the land.
The monastery was later built on the land. Most of the monks there were from Cambodia. The bank tried to negotiate with the head of the monastery, asking he move off the land, but he refused.
Pol Lt Col Natthaphol Jamboonma, deputy chief of Thammasala police, said the monk's action in climbing the mast was a protest against eviction.
Last year, local residents lodged a complaint with police after the monastery held a cremation ceremony in which a corpse was burnt outdoors without a coffin.
The monk remained up the mast overnight. On Friday officials were still trying to convince him to come down.