Vietnamese Catholics Assert Themselves in Land Dispute With Vietnam's Communist Government

September 6, 2008

Author: Ben Stocking

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.amny.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-vietnam-catholic-challenge,0,5224939.story

At a vacant lot in downtown Hanoi, Catholics have gathered to worship the Virgin Mary — and pressure the communist authorities.

For the second time this year, the city's Catholics have taken the extraordinary step of occupying state-controlled land that once belonged to the church. Their gatherings are putting pressure on a government eager to project religious tolerance but determined to maintain political control and public order.

Hundreds of Catholics have been holding daily prayer vigils since Aug. 15 to demand the return of the plot next to the Thai Ha Church. They broke through the brick wall surrounding the weed-covered, rubble-strewn site and installed a 15-foot-tall crucifix, dozens of statues of the Virgin Mary and hundreds of bamboo crosses.

City officials have pleaded with them to leave, but the crowds grew last week after rumors circulated that the Virgin Mary herself had come to lend her support.

In the decades after Vietnam's communists took power in 1954, the church was tightly controlled and public demonstrations were banned. But in recent years, religious freedom has increased gradually and the government has grown more tolerant of land protests by farmers and others.

These changes are part of a broader evolution that began in the 1990s and have accelerated as Vietnam has opened to foreign investment. Greater personal liberty has followed, with consumers gaining access to everything from CNN to Gucci to the World Wide Web.