Hanoi, Vietnam, Sep 9, 2008 / 23:13 pm
Amid ongoing demonstrations held by Vietnamese Catholics who seek to recover confiscated church properties, the Vietnamese government has accused the Archbishop of Hanoi of inciting the protests. Meanwhile, Vietnam Police Generals have threatened to punish anyone who “incites protests” or writes and distributes articles relating to Catholic protests on the internet.
The accusations and threats come as the Catholic Bishop of Hung Hoa has charged the state-run media with lying and presenting fake Catholic priests as critics of the protests.
In the Monday edition of the New Hanoi, the Vice-Minister of Public Security Lt. General Nguyen Van Huong strongly criticized the Catholics demonstrating at Thai Ha, accusing them of “belittling the laws, and disrupting public order” while threatening to severely punish anyone “who incites protests.”
Major-General Nguyen Duc Nhanh, the Director of the Hanoi Police Agency has said that priests' mere presence at Catholic demonstrations qualifies as incitement.
“The presence of priests where Catholics assemble to pray illegally, or to perform riot behaviors, or to destroy state properties, by itself, is an act of riot stimulation,” he claimed.