RICHARD GERE has thrown his support behind a campaign to turn a Buddhist town in India into a vegetarian zone to spread "a message of peace".
The Buddhist Pretty Woman actor took part in a five-day training session with Tibetan religious leader, the Dalai Lama, in India's Bodhgaya village last week (begs04Jan10) and showed his solidarity when he joined a march to highlight the campaign.
The plan to turn Bodhgaya, a site of pilgrimage, into a meat-free area was created by the Tibetans for a Vegetarian Society group.
Gere, who gave up eating red meat 30 years ago, told reporters while on the march, "I am with the people who have launched this campaign."
And the group's founder, Tenzin Kunga Luding, is grateful for the actor's support: "We have been calling for this since 2006 and slowly the campaign is building up. He really was very supportive and very good to us. It has helped the cause a lot."
