Catholics’ protests over church land erupt again in Vietnam. For almost three weeks now, hundreds of parishioners in Thai Nguyen have staged a sit-in protest to demand the return of their parish land. Local authorities have ordered them to stop demonstrating or face extreme actions.
Braving winter’s bitter cold and heavy rain, since Nov. 29, hundreds upon thousands of Catholics from Thai Nguyen parish, the largest church in the far north-east province of Vietnam, have been camping out continuously in front of the province’s public relation office to demand the return of their parish land that has been seized bit by bit since 1991.
The protest came to life after the entrance of the church had been almost blocked by new constructions on the church land seized by local officials. On Nov. 29, thousands of parishioners led by their parish priest marched to the People’s Committee office asking to see Pham Xuan Duong, the newly installed Chairman of the Province's People Committee, to submit their complaints in writing. As a result of Duong's refusing to meet with them, protestors decided to stage their sit-in protest until their aspiration is achieved.
Since then, they have been camping out in front of the building where they sing the Rosary and Hymns; and display banners and placards asking for the return of their church land. In addition, every day after the evening mass, parishioners led by their priest march on the streets to the site where they pray for hours in the winter’s cold.
The protest, sticking out like a sore thumb, has been causing great bewilderment and panic among local officials of the mountainous province, 80 km North of Hanoi. The number of protestors has swollen quickly and substantially each day. Above all, local authorities’ fears come from the fact that their seizure of the Thai Nguyen’s church land is totally illegal according to the law of the atheist government itself.
As a matter of fact, in the wake of numerous Catholics’ protests erupted in 2008, on Dec. 31, 2008, Vietnam Prime minister issued the decree No. 1940. It frankly rejected the return of church land that had been seized before 1991 - the cases of most of church land disputes: Hanoi nunciature, Thai Ha, Vinh Long, and so on. However, apparently in an effort to ease the tension between the State and religious communities, it promised to "return to people of all faith" properties seized after the said year. That’s exactly the case of Thai Nguyen parish.
Thai Nguyen Church, belonging to the diocese of Bac Ninh, had been built before 1927. It was destroyed by Viet Minh in 1947 during the French Indochina War (1946-1954), and was re-built in 1957. On April 8, 1991 the local government issued an order to seize a large portion of church land. Since then, local officials have started rewarding each other with lots of land to build their own houses or to sell for money.
The Thai Nguyen protest, therefore, is quite different from those erupted in 2008 since Thai Nguyen protestors are demanding for their legal rights that have been officially guaranteed by the government. One can see that at the breakouts of the Hanoi nunciature or Thai Ha protests as well as many others, Vietnam government had wasted no time in launching media campaigns to attack Catholics, saying their demands were “baseless”, before applying measures of repression. So far, in Thai Nguyen, such a campaign has not been utilized as the government cannot blatantly deny the legal rights of the parishioners.
The protest in Thai Nguyen has drawn supports from various sections in society including non-Christians as it reveals clearly the dishonesty of Vietnam government leaders in their commitments to implement anti-corruption efforts, and the hollowness in their promises to defend the rights and freedoms of religious communities.
Instead of returning to the parishioners their land, local authorities are now gauging snaky strategies to defuse the tension without being forced to give up what they already seized.
Fr. Nguyen Duc Dai, the parish priest, reported that on two consecutive days of Dec. 7 and 8, a large number of officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to his parish house in an attempt to pressure him to ask the protestors to stop their protest and remove their tents. Representatives of state administration for religious affairs, on other days, have also demanded the priest for an immediate and unconditional halt of the protest. Despite all threats to his life, the heroic priest frankly rejected all demands insisting that his flock’s rights must be respected. “I told them,” said Fr. Nguyen, “we see no hope in their promise. Just satisfy my parishioners’ legal and reasonable demand first then we immediately stop it.”
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| Despite cold rain, protest every day |
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| and every night |
Braving winter’s bitter cold and heavy rain, since Nov. 29, hundreds upon thousands of Catholics from Thai Nguyen parish, the largest church in the far north-east province of Vietnam, have been camping out continuously in front of the province’s public relation office to demand the return of their parish land that has been seized bit by bit since 1991.
The protest came to life after the entrance of the church had been almost blocked by new constructions on the church land seized by local officials. On Nov. 29, thousands of parishioners led by their parish priest marched to the People’s Committee office asking to see Pham Xuan Duong, the newly installed Chairman of the Province's People Committee, to submit their complaints in writing. As a result of Duong's refusing to meet with them, protestors decided to stage their sit-in protest until their aspiration is achieved.
Since then, they have been camping out in front of the building where they sing the Rosary and Hymns; and display banners and placards asking for the return of their church land. In addition, every day after the evening mass, parishioners led by their priest march on the streets to the site where they pray for hours in the winter’s cold.
The protest, sticking out like a sore thumb, has been causing great bewilderment and panic among local officials of the mountainous province, 80 km North of Hanoi. The number of protestors has swollen quickly and substantially each day. Above all, local authorities’ fears come from the fact that their seizure of the Thai Nguyen’s church land is totally illegal according to the law of the atheist government itself.
As a matter of fact, in the wake of numerous Catholics’ protests erupted in 2008, on Dec. 31, 2008, Vietnam Prime minister issued the decree No. 1940. It frankly rejected the return of church land that had been seized before 1991 - the cases of most of church land disputes: Hanoi nunciature, Thai Ha, Vinh Long, and so on. However, apparently in an effort to ease the tension between the State and religious communities, it promised to "return to people of all faith" properties seized after the said year. That’s exactly the case of Thai Nguyen parish.
Thai Nguyen Church, belonging to the diocese of Bac Ninh, had been built before 1927. It was destroyed by Viet Minh in 1947 during the French Indochina War (1946-1954), and was re-built in 1957. On April 8, 1991 the local government issued an order to seize a large portion of church land. Since then, local officials have started rewarding each other with lots of land to build their own houses or to sell for money.
The Thai Nguyen protest, therefore, is quite different from those erupted in 2008 since Thai Nguyen protestors are demanding for their legal rights that have been officially guaranteed by the government. One can see that at the breakouts of the Hanoi nunciature or Thai Ha protests as well as many others, Vietnam government had wasted no time in launching media campaigns to attack Catholics, saying their demands were “baseless”, before applying measures of repression. So far, in Thai Nguyen, such a campaign has not been utilized as the government cannot blatantly deny the legal rights of the parishioners.
The protest in Thai Nguyen has drawn supports from various sections in society including non-Christians as it reveals clearly the dishonesty of Vietnam government leaders in their commitments to implement anti-corruption efforts, and the hollowness in their promises to defend the rights and freedoms of religious communities.
Instead of returning to the parishioners their land, local authorities are now gauging snaky strategies to defuse the tension without being forced to give up what they already seized.
Fr. Nguyen Duc Dai, the parish priest, reported that on two consecutive days of Dec. 7 and 8, a large number of officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came to his parish house in an attempt to pressure him to ask the protestors to stop their protest and remove their tents. Representatives of state administration for religious affairs, on other days, have also demanded the priest for an immediate and unconditional halt of the protest. Despite all threats to his life, the heroic priest frankly rejected all demands insisting that his flock’s rights must be respected. “I told them,” said Fr. Nguyen, “we see no hope in their promise. Just satisfy my parishioners’ legal and reasonable demand first then we immediately stop it.”