Sections of Sri Lanka's politically influential Buddhist clergy staged anti-government rallies in October 2026 alongside opposition supporters to protest the reinstatement of a prison sentence for firebrand monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara. But social media footage claimed to show a quarrel among the demonstrators is unrelated, with the circulating posts appearing to stoke religious tensions in the Buddhist-majority island nation. In reality, the clip shows an incident during massive protests in 2022.
"Ranil's henchmen chase away Ulapane Sumangala Thero," reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on October 25, 2026.
"Ranil" refers to former president and political opposition figure Ranil Wickremesinghe, while Ulapane Sumangala is a Buddhist monk who is leading the demonstrations.
The featured clip depicts Sumangala being confronted by a crowd as he tries to enter a building, before walking away. Superimposed Sinhala text largely repeats the claim.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post taken on November 10, 2026, with red crosses added by AFP
The video spread on Facebook as members of the Buddhist clergy staged rallies after Sri Lanka's Supreme Court overturned a presidential pardon granted to Galagodaatte Gnanasara ( archived link ).
Gnanasara was jailed in 2018 for intimidating the wife of a missing cartoonist but was pardoned less than a year later by ex-president Maithripala Sirisena. The monk's critics accuse him of fuelling anti-Muslim sentiment and religious tensions.
A three-judge bench ruled in early October that the pardon was "arbitrary and invalid", ordering him to serve the remainder of a six-year prison sentence.
Following the court decision, opposition parties -- including the UNP headed by former president Wickremesinghe -- also criticised the government for supposedly pursuing an anti-Buddhist agenda ( archived link ).
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has responded by saying he is prepared to "protect Buddhism" even if it meant going against some members of the clergy ( archived link ).
However, the circulating video is unrelated to the recent protests sparked by the court's ruling.
A keyword search of the YouTube channel of local media outlet News Center, whose watermark is visible in the falsely shared video, found a longer version of the footage published on July 10, 2022 ( archived link ).
The video was captioned: "Ulapane Sumangala Thero, who arrived to inspect Ranil's burnt house, is scolded and chased away".
Screenshot comparison between video in false posts (L) and 2022 report from News Center
AFP also distributed a photo taken from the same incident.
A staff member of former president Wickremesinghe told AFP on November 12 his supporters were angry with the monk because he had apparently supported a breakaway faction of Wickremesinghe's party.
The residence of Wickremesinghe -- at the time the prime minister -- was burned by protesters on July 9, 2022 (archived here and here ). On the same day, rallyists also stormed the residence of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, forcing him to flee the country.
Severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines, prolonged power cuts and soaring inflation triggered nationwide protests in Sri Lanka that year ( archived link ).
Rajapaksa subsequently resigned, and Wickremesinghe was elected president on July 20, 2022 ( archived link ). The latter lost the 2024 presidential race to current leader Dissanayake.
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