THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Surin villagers demand ouster of ‘drunk’ abbot

Surin villagers demand ouster of ‘drunk’ abbot

Some 100 villagers rallied at a temple in Surin’s Sangkla district on Thursday morning to demand the removal of an abbot who they said was always drunk.

But the abbot of Wat Klang Ban Sangkla had fled the area on Wednesday night.

Villagers was led by Jirakit Srisai, chief of Tambon Sangkla, came to the temple to meet district officials, police and district monastic chief in an effort to defrock the abbot, Phra Kru Wimol Kittisan.
When they entered the temple, they found several empty liquor bottles.
The tambon chief and villagers said they had become fed up with the abbot for always being drunk. The abbot recently had been caught on video getting drunk with the clip being widely shared on Facebook, further angering local villagers.
Jirakit said the abbot had always claimed that he drank an herbal medicine.
Following the rally, the monastic district chief and monastic tambon chief voted to defrock the monk in absentia.

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