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Dalai Lama faces protest while opening Britain’s first Buddhist centre

Buddhists from the International Shugden Community protest Dalai Lama opens country's first Buddhist community centre, Aldershot, Hampshire, Britain - 29 Jun 2015 . Photo by Solent News/REX Shutterstock

LONDON – The Dalai Lama was met by supporters and protesters as he opened Britain’s first Buddhist community centre.

The 79-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader performed a blessing for the inauguration of the centre in Aldershot, southwest of London. Aldershot is an army town with a substantial Buddhist population thanks to the Nepalese Gurkha regiment.

Several hundred members of the International Shugden Community chanted “Dalai Lama stop lying” as he arrived Monday. They accuse the Dalai Lama of preventing them from following their form of Buddhism, which he once practiced but renounced in the 1970s.

The Dalai Lama’s supporters held a counter-demonstration nearby.

Opening the centre, the spiritual leader seemed to refer to terrorist attacks in Tunisia and elsewhere, saying “killing in the name of religion is totally wrong” and calling for harmony.

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