Half a million Vietnamese Catholics in street protest

(July 27, 2009) In what is being seen as the largest religious protest in Vietnam’s history, more than 500,000 Catholics took to the streets around the country on Sunday, to protest over police attempts to stop a parish holding services in the grounds of a Catholic church bombed during the Vietnam war and recently confiscated by the government. Police in Nghe An, Ha Tinh, and Quang Binh were put on high alert in response to the huge protests. 170 priests and 420 women religious led 500,000 Catholics of Vinh Diocese and neighbouring dioceses in peaceful protests in 19 deaneries early Sunday morning. The protesters demanded the immediate release of seven parishioners who were beaten and arrested in a violent police raid last Monday. The police have accused Catholic activists of “counter-revolutionary crimes, violating state policies on Americans’ War Crimes Memorial Sites, disturbing public order, and attacking officials-on-duty,” state-run media outlets reported. Tensions have existed between Vietnam’s Communist government and religious organizations for years. Communist authorities closely monitor religious groups and insist on approving most church appointments. About 6 million of Vietnam's 82 million inhabitants are Catholic, making the country the second-most Catholic country in south-east Asia after the Philippines.