Hanoi, Vietnam, Nov 19, 2008 / 22:23 pm
A government-backed mob attacked and ransacked the chapel of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery on Saturday night in a continuation of the dispute between Catholics and the communist government over confiscated property.
“At 10 p.m. local time, on Saturday night, a delegate of the People’s Committee of Quang Trung precinct came to Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery asking for an urgent meeting with Redemptorists while hundreds of people attacked our Saint Gerardo Chapel,” reported Fr. Joseph Nguyen Van That, vice superior of Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery.
The vice superior believed that the purpose of the meeting was a diversionary tactic to prevent the Redemptorists from rescuing the chapel.
“It was an organized night time attack of the government aiming at Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery,” he said.