The Church property dispute regarding the old building of the apostolic delegation in Hanoi has reached to a higher level of crisis when the local authorities sent an ultimatum to Archbishop Joseph Ngô Quang Kiệt setting 5pm Sunday as deadline to end all protests, and to remove all statues of the Virgin Mary and a five-metre high crucifix out of the site. Hanoi Catholics responded by holding the largest demonstration to date.
At 5 pm on Sunday, hundreds nuns prayed and sang making a circle around the cross on the steps of the building. Some other three thousands lay people surrounded them praying, singing and chanting late into night.
Since 18 December, when the first protest erupted, state-controlled media had been silent about the demonstrations. But, on Saturday and since then, they have been immobilized to denounce the Catholics’ protests. The radio and the television, and then newspapers started opening fire on the archbishop and the Catholic community. They accused Hanoi clergies and faithful of destroying state-owned properties, occupying state-owned land, gathering and praying illegally in public areas, attacking and insulting officials, disturbing public order, erecting illegally the cross in the garden of the site, and spreading distortions about the government on Internet.
These attacks, in a country where the population tends to interpret what state-controlled media spell out in a reverse way, seemed to have inverse effects. Hanoi Catholics suddenly became so popular that people rushed to the site to see by their own eyes "heroes" who dared to do such things. Some explicitly showed their admiration and solidarity to protesters in front of security officials. Some others believed that these sit-in Catholic protesters could not avoid from being involved in scuffles with police at the government-imposed deadline. They brought with them pairs of binocular to watch from a far distance.
In the lawn of the building, the congregation kept praying. Large numbers of security police, in uniform and in plain-clothes, were on the site, surrounding the protesters and mingling in their ranks, taking photos and filming with video cameras. The congregation focused only in their prayers in a defiant gesture to the ultimatum and threatening gestures around them.
As the deadline passed, Viet Catholics around the world monitored closely all developments. Some rang the protesters praying on the site. Some attended Candlelight Vigils some where in Australia, USA, France, Germany...
Two hours, three hours, then four hours.. passed by. Thanks God. Vietnam authorities, since accession to the WTO, probably learned how to behave better.
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| Praying at the cross erected on January 25 |
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| Praying at the Pieta Virgin Mary statue |
Since 18 December, when the first protest erupted, state-controlled media had been silent about the demonstrations. But, on Saturday and since then, they have been immobilized to denounce the Catholics’ protests. The radio and the television, and then newspapers started opening fire on the archbishop and the Catholic community. They accused Hanoi clergies and faithful of destroying state-owned properties, occupying state-owned land, gathering and praying illegally in public areas, attacking and insulting officials, disturbing public order, erecting illegally the cross in the garden of the site, and spreading distortions about the government on Internet.
These attacks, in a country where the population tends to interpret what state-controlled media spell out in a reverse way, seemed to have inverse effects. Hanoi Catholics suddenly became so popular that people rushed to the site to see by their own eyes "heroes" who dared to do such things. Some explicitly showed their admiration and solidarity to protesters in front of security officials. Some others believed that these sit-in Catholic protesters could not avoid from being involved in scuffles with police at the government-imposed deadline. They brought with them pairs of binocular to watch from a far distance.
In the lawn of the building, the congregation kept praying. Large numbers of security police, in uniform and in plain-clothes, were on the site, surrounding the protesters and mingling in their ranks, taking photos and filming with video cameras. The congregation focused only in their prayers in a defiant gesture to the ultimatum and threatening gestures around them.
As the deadline passed, Viet Catholics around the world monitored closely all developments. Some rang the protesters praying on the site. Some attended Candlelight Vigils some where in Australia, USA, France, Germany...
Two hours, three hours, then four hours.. passed by. Thanks God. Vietnam authorities, since accession to the WTO, probably learned how to behave better.