In one of the bloodiest religious crackdowns in recent years in Vietnam, police on Wednesday fired multiple gunshots and lobbed grenades in front of a church as they violently dispersed hundreds of Catholics demanding the release of two parishioners in a North Central Coast province, according to sources.
A unknown number of people were rushed to hospital with injuries after being beaten by police who also fired in the air in front of the My Yen church in Nghe An province as several hundred parishioners rallied for the release of the parishioners arrested for no valid reason two months ago, the sources said.
State television reported that about 300 people mobbed the Nghi Phuong village people’s committee building in Nghi Loc district on Wednesday saying they would not budge until My Yen parishioners Ngo Van Khoi and Nguyen Van Hai are freed. A day earlier, about 1,000 people, some of them carrying large banners, had campaigned for the pair’s release.
“They [police] fired 15 [gun] shots in front of the My Yen church. They beat some parishioners with electric batons,” one parishioner told RFA’s Vietnamese Service. “Some parishioners had to be hospitalized. They also arrested nine to 10 people.”
Bloggers Nghiem Viet Anh and Bui Minh Hang shared a Vietnam Redemptorist Church news website showing several people receiving treatment for head, hand, stomach, and neck injuries.
Read more: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/church-09042013193713.html
