Human Rights Watch protests crackdown on Catholics

Human Rights Watch has issued a press release on the continuing conflicts between the government and Catholic church in Vietnam, in what it describes as the harshest crackdown on Vietnam Catholics in decades. It urges an end to "the harassment, threats, and restrictions on the movement of the Archbishop of Hanoi, Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet;" the release of Catholics arrested "for holding peaceful prayer vigils in Hanoi;" and holding accountable police and others responsible for attacking the demonstrators.

There have been many denunciations in the state owned press of the Hanoi archbishop and other Catholic leaders and demonstrators since Sept. 21, when "10,000 Catholics gathered in prayer outside Hanoi’s main St. Joseph Cathedral to protest the demolition of church buildings at the nearby Nunciature."

The overseas VietCatholic News Agency has been reporting daily on this crisis.