A parish in Hà Nam has been attacked on a daily basis during a week with windows of the presteby smashed and thrown away, church stoned, faithful cursed and smeared, and the priest received violent threats.
Mạc Thượng parish in Thiên Lý village, Lý Nhân district of Hà Nam province, was attacked every day during the week from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27. Fr. Ta Huu Phuong, pastor of the parish reported the incident in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Friday Oct. 3 after he had received violent threats from thugs.
The attacks were not random, rather they followed a specific pattern. “Every day, they gathered at 7:30 pm [in the entrance of the church] to yell slogans, threatening to attack priests, and other things until 10pm,” said Fr. Ta.
“They came in a large number, up to hundreds…and immediately started yelling and cursing loudly. They then stoned at the church and my residence. They pulled down the fence; smashed my windows and threw them into a pond; and damaged the gates. They were very violent,” he added.
In more details, Fr. Ta told RFA: “The attacks started on Sep. 23. The next day, officials of People’s Committee of the town called me and the parish council to their office to discuss our petition. But they said they had no authority to solve the issue.”
After the meeting with the People’s Committee, the attacks kept going on until Sept. 27 with the exact time table: from 7:30 to 10. “Every day they came to shout at us and throw stones at the church,” he added.
At a stage, the parishioners asked the police in Hà Nam province to interfere. They did come but just to invite thugs to go home. No one was arrested or got any troubles with police. "Every thing remained the same after that," Fr. Ta sighed.
Fr. Ta disclosed that the parish has had a land dispute with the local government. During a period of 60 years after Fr. De died, the parish had no priests. Local authorities have since seized most of its land, up to 26,000 square meters, and allowed many individuals to use it for their business.
“The parishioners have sent petitions to ask for the requisition of their land since 1996,” but all of them went into deaf ears.
Asked if the parishioners had hold demonstrations or vigil prayers to gain attention to their land petitions, he told RFA. “My parish is a very tiny one with only 300 people. Apart from sending petitions to the government, we did not dare to do anything else.”
Out of fear, “the parish does not even think about sending some more petitions in the near future,” he added.
Probably, it is the main reason to explain why the attacks have been suspended recently. It seems that the Vietnam government now found out an effective strategy to deal with land protests: using thugs.
Mạc Thượng parish in Thiên Lý village, Lý Nhân district of Hà Nam province, was attacked every day during the week from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27. Fr. Ta Huu Phuong, pastor of the parish reported the incident in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Friday Oct. 3 after he had received violent threats from thugs.
The attacks were not random, rather they followed a specific pattern. “Every day, they gathered at 7:30 pm [in the entrance of the church] to yell slogans, threatening to attack priests, and other things until 10pm,” said Fr. Ta.
“They came in a large number, up to hundreds…and immediately started yelling and cursing loudly. They then stoned at the church and my residence. They pulled down the fence; smashed my windows and threw them into a pond; and damaged the gates. They were very violent,” he added.
In more details, Fr. Ta told RFA: “The attacks started on Sep. 23. The next day, officials of People’s Committee of the town called me and the parish council to their office to discuss our petition. But they said they had no authority to solve the issue.”
After the meeting with the People’s Committee, the attacks kept going on until Sept. 27 with the exact time table: from 7:30 to 10. “Every day they came to shout at us and throw stones at the church,” he added.
At a stage, the parishioners asked the police in Hà Nam province to interfere. They did come but just to invite thugs to go home. No one was arrested or got any troubles with police. "Every thing remained the same after that," Fr. Ta sighed.
Fr. Ta disclosed that the parish has had a land dispute with the local government. During a period of 60 years after Fr. De died, the parish had no priests. Local authorities have since seized most of its land, up to 26,000 square meters, and allowed many individuals to use it for their business.
“The parishioners have sent petitions to ask for the requisition of their land since 1996,” but all of them went into deaf ears.
Asked if the parishioners had hold demonstrations or vigil prayers to gain attention to their land petitions, he told RFA. “My parish is a very tiny one with only 300 people. Apart from sending petitions to the government, we did not dare to do anything else.”
Out of fear, “the parish does not even think about sending some more petitions in the near future,” he added.
Probably, it is the main reason to explain why the attacks have been suspended recently. It seems that the Vietnam government now found out an effective strategy to deal with land protests: using thugs.