Clashes between Vietnamese police and Catholics

Mon 10 Nov 97 - 08:51 GMT
HANOI, Nov 10 (AFP) - Vietnamese police clashed with Roman Catholic demonstrators in Dong Nai province at the weekend, the authorities said Monday.

Four demonstrators and one policeman were injured in the clashes caused by the expropriation of church land, according to residents of the coastal province contacted by telephone.

An official of the people's committee in Thong Nhat district, where there are tens of thousands of Catholics, said the disturbances started after police started breaking up the demonstrators.

He said "several thousand demonstrators were protesting against corruption and expropriations of diocese land that the local authorities ordered for the construction of schools and public buildings."

A local Catholic said around 10,000 Catholics took part in the demonstration in front of the headquarters of the district people's committee to protest against the expropriations. They also demanded that corrupt officials be put on trial.

The source said four demonstrators and a police officer were injured. The demonstrators were said to have burned down the home of a religious affairs official of the Fatherland Front, which groups social organizations.