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A group of Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka led a crowd that demolished a Muslim shrine.

The incident took place in Anuradhapura, an ancient Buddhist city and Unesco world heritage site.

The monk who led the group said he did it because the shrine was on land that was given to Sinhalese Buddhists 2,000 years ago.

But a prominent Muslim in the area said he was very sad and the sentiment was shared by many Sinhalese too.

The mob waved Buddhist flags and burnt a green Muslim flag.

The BBC spoke to the monk, Amatha Dhamma Thero, who admitted masterminding the demolition of the Muslim shrine. He said he arranged a gathering of 100 or so monks, including some from other Asian countries, to take action because - he alleged - local Muslims were trying to convert the shrine into a mosque despite new constructions being illegal on this site with its many Buddhist temples.

He said local government officials arrived and said they would remove the shrine within three days, but the crowd said "we cannot wait" and proceeded to tear down the structure.

Some witnesses said the police were present during the incident and did not do anything to stop the destruction of the shrine. Amatha Dhamma Thero said the police were there to prevent communal clashes.

The police deny they were present at all. "This is a fabricated story. No media in Sri Lanka has reported this and we don't have any police report. If this happened there would have been a complaint. We have not received any complaint," the outgoing police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody told BBC Sinhala.

One councillor told the BBC that mosque officials were afraid to complain about an attack that occurred while senior police officers were present.

The demolition has been denounced by a local senior Muslim and a local Sinhalese politician.

A Muslim, Abdul Razack, denied that a mosque was planned and said the demolished shrine was about 300 years old and had attracted visitors of other faiths too.

He said local Muslims and Buddhists alike were concerned at what had happened but Muslims had avoided the site on that day, fearing sectarian disharmony.