2008-11-18 14:24:31

Hindu extremists attack Pentecostal church in Mumbai


(Nov.18, 2008):- In India’s western State of Maharashtra, a group of radical Hindus attacked a Pentecostal church in Bhayander ( Mumbai), destroying furniture, beating its clergyman and worshipers and launching accusations that they are involved in converting people to Christianity.
Last Friday, Nov. 14, a group of 20 from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad - VHP, a Hindu fundamentalist organisation, stormed the ‘Church of God’ in Bhayander, close to the Navghar police station. According to eyewitness accounts, the hoodlums forced their way into the church shouting slogans like “Jai Hind; Jai Maharashtra; Jai Bajrang Bali”. After claiming to be from the VHP they said they had information that conversions took place in that church. They then shouted vulgarities and began beating those present. They manhandled the church’s pastor, Rev Felix Fernandes, stripped and beat him senseless, leaving him unconscious in the street.
Abraham Mathai, deputy chairman of the State Minorities Commission told Asia News that these attacks will continue, as long as police do not really track the culprits. For Aux. Archbishop Percival Fernandes of Bombay this uncalled for act was a “terrorist” act. “These actions have only one purpose, and that is to create and maintain fear and anxiety in the people and communities attacked,” he added.
This is the first time that a church is attacked in Mumbai since last August, when a wave of violence hit Christians, first in the state of Orissa and then other Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisghar, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Police have arrested about 20 people in connection with the attack, including a woman, from the radical Hindu group Shiv Sena, and launched and an investigation into the affair.








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