Bangkok Governor Bars Road Shrines

Bangkok’s controversial governor Chamlong Srimuang on Tuesday expanded his campaign to tidy up the city by ordering officials to clear Buddhist shrines from roadsides.

City officials said that Chamlong, a devout Buddhist and vegetarian, has instructed them to remove by Sunday all religious shrines in Bangkok that encroach on and obstruct roadside pavement.

They said many officials were reluctant to carry out the order because Thais regard most shrines as sacred.

Bangkok has hundreds of public religious shrines where people perform their traditional worship and make food offerings. But many of them have been abandoned by their owners on roadsides.