DONG HOI, VIETNAM - Information received within the past few days has revealed that more Catholics at Tam Toa, Dong Hoi, and Quang Binh are in grave danger at Quang Binh's Communist government's hands, being victimized by fresh and improvised tactics. With this new measure, any Christians leaving their homes at any time can easily become victim of brutal attack from police and organized criminals.
Police in Quang Binh photographed these Catholics, posting flyers with these people's photo by street corners and on telephone poles, so that hostile non-Catholics can recognize and attack them with impunity. One Christian had reportedly been terrorized by strangers so severely with his home broken into, his TV and other possessions vandalized, while police stood guard outside his home.
Some Catholics who run their business at the market encountered interference and incitement by unknown gangsters throwing yardwaste and trash at them, disrupting their way of life in such extreme hostility.
It has been difficult for Christians in general and Catholics in particular to meet with one another without being terrorized. When a car being stopped on the road, Christians are singled out and got beaten up without mercy. Anyone on the road including tourists who carry cameras can be subject to confiscation of their cameras without resistance. Some can be smashed without a reason.
A number of detainees were interrogated then forced to declare in writing that they have been "neither beaten nor interrogated" declarations. These victims were placed in a state of fear, isolation, and not permitted to contact anyone, so that officers can easily coerce them into confessing their "crimes". This is not a new measure for these officers to apply nowadays. Many from other regions have experience with this mode of operation – such that many people taken in by officers were said to have "committed suicide" for ridiculous reasons.
Currently, the people of Quang Binh have been brainwashed by the government toward hatred and hostility to religion. Hostile, inhumane, and uneducated people are paid to attack Catholics. Radio stations and newspapers constantly accuse parishioners of "conspiracy to erase the crimes of the American Empire" and many other problems that further fuel this outrageous violence.
Parishioners are often harassed, and then summoned to "work" constantly at any given time, causing psychological distress and other abject tactics. Recently the government has also directly bullied their parishes, threatened priests such as the Reverend Peter Le Thanh Hong in Sen Bang, invited and summoned to labor.... psychologically terrifying and causing fear in parishioners. For the state of Christians in Tam Toa in this period of lament, let us pray together for those Christian brothers and sisters.
Police in Quang Binh photographed these Catholics, posting flyers with these people's photo by street corners and on telephone poles, so that hostile non-Catholics can recognize and attack them with impunity. One Christian had reportedly been terrorized by strangers so severely with his home broken into, his TV and other possessions vandalized, while police stood guard outside his home.
Some Catholics who run their business at the market encountered interference and incitement by unknown gangsters throwing yardwaste and trash at them, disrupting their way of life in such extreme hostility.
It has been difficult for Christians in general and Catholics in particular to meet with one another without being terrorized. When a car being stopped on the road, Christians are singled out and got beaten up without mercy. Anyone on the road including tourists who carry cameras can be subject to confiscation of their cameras without resistance. Some can be smashed without a reason.
A number of detainees were interrogated then forced to declare in writing that they have been "neither beaten nor interrogated" declarations. These victims were placed in a state of fear, isolation, and not permitted to contact anyone, so that officers can easily coerce them into confessing their "crimes". This is not a new measure for these officers to apply nowadays. Many from other regions have experience with this mode of operation – such that many people taken in by officers were said to have "committed suicide" for ridiculous reasons.
Currently, the people of Quang Binh have been brainwashed by the government toward hatred and hostility to religion. Hostile, inhumane, and uneducated people are paid to attack Catholics. Radio stations and newspapers constantly accuse parishioners of "conspiracy to erase the crimes of the American Empire" and many other problems that further fuel this outrageous violence.
Parishioners are often harassed, and then summoned to "work" constantly at any given time, causing psychological distress and other abject tactics. Recently the government has also directly bullied their parishes, threatened priests such as the Reverend Peter Le Thanh Hong in Sen Bang, invited and summoned to labor.... psychologically terrifying and causing fear in parishioners. For the state of Christians in Tam Toa in this period of lament, let us pray together for those Christian brothers and sisters.