"Hundreds of police, militiamen, and thugs, who yelled, smashed everything on their way in, threw stones into our monastery, and shattered the gate of the monastery," Hanoi Redemptorist Community reported, emphasizing that everything happened in broad day light.
“The incident happened at 14:45 on Nov. 3 when hundreds of police, militiamen, professionally trained dogs and hired thugs, along with state-run television crews, attacked our people and ransacked our monastery,” wrote Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van Phuong in his statement released on Nov. 4.
Fr. John Luu Ngoc Quynh, Bro.Vincent Vu Van Bang, and Bro. Nguyen Van Tang were among several who were physically and verbally assaulted when they tried to stop the thugs from smashing the monastery's gate. Their rude intrusion seemed to be premeditated since the church was deserted, as usual, during the noon hours.
After getting inside the monastery, the thugs attacked Fr. Pham Xuan Loc who tried to stop their acts of blasphemy.
Church bells were rung to summon nearby others to come to the monastery's rescue. Thugs withdrew immediately with the backing of police and militiamen when thousands of Catholics and nearby parish priests rushed to the site of the violence.
This is the third time local government forces had attacked and ransacked Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery. It happened in broad day light whilst the first two occurred late at night.
On Sunday Sep. 21, 2008 the monastery's chapel was ransacked with statues destroyed, and books torn to pieces. In addition, "the gang yelled out slogans threatening to kill priests, religious, faithful and even our archbishop,” wrote Fr. Matthew Vu Khoi Phung, Superior of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery in a protest letter sent to People's Committee of Hanoi City and police agencies of Hanoi and Dong Da district, referring to then Archbishop of Hanoi Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet.
As a response to his complaint, on Nov. 11, a second attack came by an even larger crowd of thugs. A stern message was sent to the vulnerable religious order and parish who were long considered as one of the biggest "thorn in the flesh" of the government.
For years, Redemptorist priests and their faithful have requested for the requisition of their land illegally seized by the state.
On Jan. 6, 2008, parishioners protested a State plan to sell their land to private estate developers for profit. In response, after a series of attacks, arrests and even putting on trials against parishioners, the government hastily converted the land into a public park.
Another piece of land in dispute, which is the main focus now, is the Lake Ba Giang. Initially, authorities planned to sell piece by piece to private estate developers. The plan has been faced with relentless protest and criticism by the religious community. Now, to take revenge, the government has announced a plan to turn it into a wasted water treatment plant, a dangerous move to the environment surrounding the area where tens of thousands of parishioners live and worship.
Having trembled on their legal aspiration, the government is now seeking the only solution they seem to be in favour of: openly persecutes them. In fact, the attack on Nov. 3 has happened after a month-long media campaign against the Redemptorists since August when the local authorities rekindled the same old defamation tactics to terrorize both the religious and the laity: using the monopoly media outlets to distort the truth about the dispute between the Church and the State; on the other hand they would install electronic megaphones at strategic positions around the church in order to disrupt the solemn masses and religious activities and show disrespect to the parishioners and the religious men inside the monastery.
“The incident happened at 14:45 on Nov. 3 when hundreds of police, militiamen, professionally trained dogs and hired thugs, along with state-run television crews, attacked our people and ransacked our monastery,” wrote Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van Phuong in his statement released on Nov. 4.
Fr. John Luu Ngoc Quynh, Bro.Vincent Vu Van Bang, and Bro. Nguyen Van Tang were among several who were physically and verbally assaulted when they tried to stop the thugs from smashing the monastery's gate. Their rude intrusion seemed to be premeditated since the church was deserted, as usual, during the noon hours.
After getting inside the monastery, the thugs attacked Fr. Pham Xuan Loc who tried to stop their acts of blasphemy.
Church bells were rung to summon nearby others to come to the monastery's rescue. Thugs withdrew immediately with the backing of police and militiamen when thousands of Catholics and nearby parish priests rushed to the site of the violence.
This is the third time local government forces had attacked and ransacked Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery. It happened in broad day light whilst the first two occurred late at night.
On Sunday Sep. 21, 2008 the monastery's chapel was ransacked with statues destroyed, and books torn to pieces. In addition, "the gang yelled out slogans threatening to kill priests, religious, faithful and even our archbishop,” wrote Fr. Matthew Vu Khoi Phung, Superior of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery in a protest letter sent to People's Committee of Hanoi City and police agencies of Hanoi and Dong Da district, referring to then Archbishop of Hanoi Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet.
As a response to his complaint, on Nov. 11, a second attack came by an even larger crowd of thugs. A stern message was sent to the vulnerable religious order and parish who were long considered as one of the biggest "thorn in the flesh" of the government.
For years, Redemptorist priests and their faithful have requested for the requisition of their land illegally seized by the state.
On Jan. 6, 2008, parishioners protested a State plan to sell their land to private estate developers for profit. In response, after a series of attacks, arrests and even putting on trials against parishioners, the government hastily converted the land into a public park.
Another piece of land in dispute, which is the main focus now, is the Lake Ba Giang. Initially, authorities planned to sell piece by piece to private estate developers. The plan has been faced with relentless protest and criticism by the religious community. Now, to take revenge, the government has announced a plan to turn it into a wasted water treatment plant, a dangerous move to the environment surrounding the area where tens of thousands of parishioners live and worship.
Having trembled on their legal aspiration, the government is now seeking the only solution they seem to be in favour of: openly persecutes them. In fact, the attack on Nov. 3 has happened after a month-long media campaign against the Redemptorists since August when the local authorities rekindled the same old defamation tactics to terrorize both the religious and the laity: using the monopoly media outlets to distort the truth about the dispute between the Church and the State; on the other hand they would install electronic megaphones at strategic positions around the church in order to disrupt the solemn masses and religious activities and show disrespect to the parishioners and the religious men inside the monastery.