11/07/2011 Vietnam (Asia News) – The Archdiocese of Hanoi “condemns the barbaric and illegal actions of those who have violated the courtyard of the monastery and the parish of Thai Ha with offensive and provocative words of a violent nature.” The Church of Hanoi was reacting to the attack of November 3, when hundreds of police and military accompanied by dogs and thugs and followed by a state TV crew attacked the monastery, shouted insults with megaphones, threw stones and smashed the front door.
At the time Father John Luu Ngoc Quynh, Brother Vincent Vu Van Bang, and brother Nguyen Van Tang were among those who were verbally and physically attacked when they tried to stop the thugs who were smashing the door of the monastery. Father Pham Xuan Loc was attacked in the monastery as he tried to stop their unholy acts.
To put an end to the assault thousands of Catholics rushed from neighboring parishes, called by the bells of the Thai Ha church.
The background to the raid is probably the desire of local authorities to bend the resistance of the Redemptorists who oppose a new expropriation of part of the parish grounds. The story began on 8 October, when the parish priest, Father Joseph Nguyen Van Phuong, was summoned to the headquarters of the district People’s Committee of Dong Da and informed that a plant for the treatment of wastewater from the hospital in the area will be built on land belonging to the Redemptorists – who have run the parish since its founding in 1928.
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