Vietnamese police break up protest by dissident Buddhists
HANOI - Vietnamese police forced their way into a temple in southern Vietnam
and broke up a two-week protest by followers of a dissident Buddhist
group, church officials said Tuesday.
During the protest, Vo Van Thanh Liem, a priest, took refuge in a
tree behind the Quang Minh Tu Temple to avoid arrest, they said.
The followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism were attempting to resist a
government order that they remove the temple's gate, a U.S.-based
support group said. Hoa Hao Buddhism, which claims more than 1
million members, was officially sanctioned by Vietnam's Communist
government in 1999 after a Communist Party-approved leadership was
put in place. The protest was held by a non-approved splinter group
that objects to Communist control.
Government officials in Long Dien hamlet in An Giang province
ordered the removal of the temple's gate on Nov. 6, a day after
followers at another temple in Kien Thanh hamlet were forced to
remove their temple's sign and religious flag, the California-based
Central Council of Administrators of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church
said.
When monks and nuns at the Quang Minh Tu Temple resisted, about 200
police surrounded the temple, the council said. They later severed
the lock on the gate, entered the temple and surrounded the tree
where Liem had taken refuge, it said.
On Monday, police beat a number of followers and handcuffed two
church activists, Truong Van Thuc and Nguyen Chau Lang, the council
said.
Police and government officials refused to comment on the report.
However, an official of the government-sanctioned Hoa Hao branch
confirmed that police had broken up the protest and had escorted
Thuc and Lang back to their homes.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied that the
men had been formally arrested or that police had beaten some
members of the banned group.
He said Liem had ended his 14-day tree protest. No other information
was available on Liem's status.
Vietnam's Communist government denies restricting religious freedom
and holding religious or political prisoners.
But it recognizes only certain sects from six religions - Buddhism,
Catholicism, Protestantism, Caodaism, Hoa Hao and Islam - which
accept Communist control.
Hoa Hao was founded by a traditional medicine doctor in 1939 in An
Giang province in southwestern Vietnam. It now claims followers in
more than 10 provinces, mostly in the south.
Nine of the 11 members of the sanctioned Hoa Hao sect's
administrative committee are Communist Party members, the council
said.
Early last year, the government cracked down on protests by
thousands of members of ethnic minorities in Vietnam's Central
Highlands over land grievances and restrictions on unauthorized
Protestant "house churches."
The Associated Press - November 21, 2002.
Spokesperson calls Hoa Hao Pagoda besieging report "Sheer fabrication"
HANOI - A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry on Nov.21 rejected a report on police's besieging a Hoa Hoa pagoda in southern An Giang province as a sheer fabrication.
Phan Thuy Thanh told reporters "We strongly reject such ill-intended and sheer fabrications. There is not any evidence on '200 policemen surrounding and seeking to remove a pagoda gate or beating people' as the report said."
"Quang Minh Tu in fact is not a pagoda, according to local authorities. It was a dwelling house of a local called Vo Van Thanh Liem. Liem himself has put a board with self-styled 'Quang Minh Tu pagoda' line at the front of his home. It's the Hoa Hoa Sect Representative Board that has not recognised Liem as a Hoa Hoa follower nor this 'pagoda'."
"Liem's act has violated provisions of the Vietnamese law. The local authorities have asked Liem to pull down the board but up to now he has not yet taken requirement," the spokeswoman concluded.
Vietnam News Agency - November 22, 2002.
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