Hanoi, Vietnam, Aug 10, 2009 / 18:13 pm
Despite a widely circulated threat of an imminent government crackdown, hundreds of thousands of Catholics from the Diocese of Vinh held massive protests on Saturday night. They demanded the immediate release of three Catholics detained for the past few weeks, following an incident at Tam Toa parish.
On July 20, Vietnamese police brutally beat hundreds of Catholics who were erecting a cross and building an altar on the ground of Tam Toa church, which collapsed during the Vietnam War after a U.S. air raid. Vietnamese authorities had claimed the ruined building for the centuries-old parish as a war memorial.
In the aftermath of the incident, all 178 parishes of the Diocese of Vinh, which have about 500,000 Catholics, held simultaneous protests and candlelight processions on Saturday. The protests this past weekend mark the third time that the vigils and marches have been held across the country in recent weeks.
“The protestors marched on the streets in seas of lights, receiving applause from bystanders standing on sidewalks who looked up to them with eyes widened in admiration for their courage to stand up against the tyrannous regime,” Sr. Emily Nguyen told CNA.