Security Police
assault Thich Quang Do in clash to prevent UBCV monks holding Buddhist
celebration in Saigon
International Buddhist Information Bureau
For immediate release
Paris, 20 November 2005
- State media
launches vilification campaign against Thich Quang Do and UBCV provincial
committees
lAt 8.00 am (Vietnam time) on Saturday 19th November2005, Security
Police clashed with Buddhists at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery and physically
assaulted Venerable Thich Quang Do, Deputy leader of theoutlawed Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV).Thich Quang Do was leaving the monastery to
preside a Memorial Ceremony at Giac Hoa Pagoda (Saigon), for Zen Master Nguyen
Thieu, founder of the “Lam Te” Zen Buddhist school in Binh Dinh and Hue in 1675.
This Memorial Ceremony is usually held in Binh Dinh province, but the local
communist authorities prohibited the UBCV Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang from
holding it at the Nguyen Thieu Monastery, where he is
currently under house arrest. On 13th November, Thich Huyen Quang
sent a letter to UBCV Buddhists around the country urging them not to risk
reprisals by traveling to Binh Dinh, but to organize ceremonies in their own
pagodas.
According to UBCV sources, events began on Friday 18th November, when
Police learned that many UBCV dignitaries planned to attend the ceremomy in
Saigon. To prevent this, the People’s Committee sent convocations to all senior
UBCV monks, including Venerables Thich Quang Do, Thich Nguyen Ly, Thich Khong
Tanh, Thich Nhat Ban etc... summoning them for ”working sessions”
(interrogations) at 8.00 am on Saturday, at the same time as the Memorial
Ceremony. All UBCV senior monks and nuns in the provinces, from Central Vietnam
to the Mekong Delta received similar convications from the local communist
authorities, Police and Religious Board, and were forbidden to travel to Saigon.
From Friday evening onwards, the land phones and Internet acces at Giac Hoa
Pagoda were cut, and mobile phone communications were jammed.
On Saturday morning, at 8.00 am when six UBCV monks came to escort Thich Quang
Do to Giac Hoa Pagoda, 50 Security Police (both in uniform and plain-clothes)
were standing in the courtyard of the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery. As Thich Quang
Do came
downstairs, 10 Security agents rushed to the staircase to push him back, but the
UBCV monks intervened and surrounded the UBCV Deputy leader, escorting him
outside. The Police ordered Thich Quang Do to come with them for interrogation,
but he refused, announcing that he must perform his religious duties first, and
would see to the interrogations later.
As Thich Quang Do walked calmly towards the Monastery’s gates, Security Police
seized him and tried to force him back inside, pullling the elderly monk and
tearing his robes to pieces. UBCV monk Thich Thien Minh, released this year
after 26 years in reeducation camp, stood in front of Thich Quang Do and
challenged Police to arrest him instead of his master. ”I have experienced your
policies of religious discrimination for 26 years”, he said, “I am not afraid”.
As the Police continued their assault, Thich Thien Minh cried out: “Police are
assaulting our master ! This is a violation of religious freedom”. Crowds began
to gather on Tran Huy Lieu Street, and joined in by shouting out protests
against religious persecution.
Confronted by the growing crowds and increasing tension, Police finally allowed
Thich Quang Do and the six UBCV monks to procede to Giac Hoa pagoda, following
them in Police cars. UBCV monks told the International Buddhist Information
Bureau (IBIB) that several hundred Security Police surrounded the Giac Hoa
Pagoda throughout the day. A number of security agents masquerading as Buddhists
forced their way into the Pagoda and filmed the whole proceedings, taking
pictures of everyone present. Nevertheless, despite these tight restrictions,
over 100 prominent monks and nuns representing the UBCV from all over the
country defied Police controls and attended the Memorial Ceremony. Venerable
Thich Quang Do returned to the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in the afternoon, shaken
and very tired, but otherwise safe and sound. The situation remains tense,
however, and communications to Giac Hoa Pagoda were still not re-established
today (Sunday 20th Nevember).
The Giac Hoa Pagoda in Binh Thanh Ward has been under constant Police
surveillance since October 2003, when its Superior monk, Thich Vien Dinh, was
appointed to the UBCV leadership and subsequently placed under house arrest in
the government clamp-dowm. Thich Vien Dinh is Vice-President of the UBCV’s
Executive Institute “Vien Hoa Dao”.
lFollowing the announcement by the US State Department on November 8th
2005 that Vietnam remains on the list of the worst violators of religious
freedom (Countries of particular Concern), Vietnam has reacted by stepping up
threats and repression against the UBCV. The major target of repression are the
UBCV Representative Boards set up between July-October 2005 in the provinves of
Quang Nam-Danang, Thua Thien Hue, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong
Nai, Hau Giang and An Giang to support people in these poor provinces. At the
same time, a vilification campaign has been launched against Thich Quang Do in
the State media, denouncing his endorsement of these local UBCV sections as
“impostures” and “unlawful”. Security Police have systematically interrogated
UBCV monks, nuns and lay-followers, warning them to disband these sections and
cease all contact with the UBCV.
- On 11th November 2005, the Thua-Thien Hue People’s Committee sent a
notification to Venerable Thich Quang Do and Venerable Thich Thien Hanh (Ref.
3592/UBND-XH) declaring “illegal” the creation of a UBCV representative board in
Thua Thien Hue. They ordered Thich Quang Do to immediately disband the board and
warned that any activities it might undertake would be ”dealt with as violations
of the law” ;
- On 11th November, the Executive Committee of the State-sponsored
Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) issued a ”Declaration” (418/TB/HDTS) refuting the
“imposture” of “certain individuals” in the UBCV who “seek to re-establish an
organization that has been absorbed into the VCB since 1981”.
- On 14th November, Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, Vice Chairman of the
State-sponsored VBS Executive Council, denounced Thich Quang Do’s appointment of
UBCV representative boards as “an imposture”. Speaking on the official Vietnam
News Agency, he accused Thich Quang Do of signing “decisions [that are] legally
invalid and contrary both to the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Charter and the law
of the State of Vietnam,” and warned that “this is an attempt to undermine the
solidarity in the Buddhist organisation and to harm the national interest.”
Thich Thanh Tu’s declaration is clearly a threat against Thich Quang Do and UBCV
leaders. Under the broadly-defined “national security” provisions in the
Vietnamese Criminal Code, offences of “undermining solidarity” and “harming
national interests” are punishable with very heavy prison sentences in Vietnam;
- On 14th November 2005, Security Police and local Communist Party
officials in Hue issued a verbal ”Administrative Detention” order on Venerable
Thich Thien Hanh. They prohibited him from leaving the Bao Quoc Pagoda, and
placed him under Police surveillance;
Similar declarations were issued by the local authorities against several UBCV
Provincial Committees, e.g. in Binh Dinh (Ref. 02/TB-BTG, 9.11.2005), Danang
(Ref. 5978/VP-NCPC, 14.11.2005) etc..., and members of several committees have
been intimidated and harassed. On 15th November, Thich Chon Tam, head
of the An Giang UBCV Provincial committee, was threatened by Security Police to
resign and cut off all contacts with the banned UBCV.