Indian Police Detain Hundreds Protesting Attacks on Churches

A large number of policemen today swooped down on a protest in Delhi against church attacks, and dragged activists, including priests and nuns into buses. Some alleged that they were attacked with batons.

Christian groups were protesting outside the Sacred Heart cathedral in central Delhi when the police arrived. Scores of protesters were manhandled and bundled into buses, their bags, shoes and other belongings left scattered on the road.

Father Dominic Emanuel, the spokesperson of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, was also forced into a bus and taken away. An elderly woman, who lay on the road, was picked up by four policewomen and thrown into a bus.

On Monday, unidentified people broke into a church in north Delhi and desecrated holy objects.

Delhi Archbishop Anil Couto condemned the vandalism and expressed his concern about the string of attacks. "A clear pattern of orchestrated attacks is emerging as more churches are targeted, vandalized and set on fire," Couto told reporters.

Father Savarimathu Sankar, spokesperson for the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, said, “We only want justice and we want protection of our churches. We are not demanding it as Christians but as citizens of India. “We have given representations to the President and the Prime Minister but there has been no follow up from their side. This is the fifth incident and it is apparent that the incidents were of communal nature.”

Christians make up about 2.3 percent of India's population of 1.26 billion. They say attacks on churches have increased since Modi's Hindu fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party won with an overwhelming majority in national elections last May.