Police Beat Buddhist Monk
RFA - 06-19-2012
Vietnamese authorities
harass an unregistered monk.
Vietnamese police have
beaten a monk who is a member of an outlawed Buddhist association after pulling
him over for not wearing a helmet, an overseas rights group said Tuesday.
Thich Quang Thanh, a member of the unsanctioned Unified Buddhist Church of
Vietnam (UBCV), was beaten June 10 by traffic police in southern Vietnam’s Dong
Nai province, the Paris-based Vietnam Committee on Human Rights said in a
statement.
After he was pulled over while riding a motorbike on Highway 51, Thich Quang
Thanh apologized and prepared to pay a fine for not wearing a helmet, but police
threw the motorbike in their truck and punched him in the face, the rights group
said.
After calling for backup, a group of policemen pinned him to the ground, beat
him with a truncheon and trampled on him, stopping him from calling for help,
the group said. They also stopped passers-by who tried to interfere, it said.
Police took him in for questioning Phuoc Thai village where he was held for
questioning, releasing him several hours later.
The unregistered UBCV, with followers around Vietnam, has clashed with officials
since its founding in the 1960s. Its leader, Thich Quang Do, lives under house
arrest in Saigon.
Religious activity is closely monitored in the one-party Vietnamese state, where
religious groups must operate under government-controlled management boards.
The only recognized Buddhist church in the country is the Buddhist Church of
Vietnam, an organization run by the Fatherland Front, a peripheral organization
of the ruling Communist Party.
In May, senior UBCV monks in Vietnam said they faced increasing threats and
pressure from police in three central provinces to ban celebrations of the
anniversary of the Buddha’s birth.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a congressional
watchdog, has said the Vietnamese government severely restricts and penalizes
independent religious practice and represses individuals and groups viewed as
challenging its authority.
Reported by Rachel Vandenbrink.