05/04/2012, 00.00
VIETNAM
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For Vesak, Hanoi increases controls and threatens "unofficial" monks

Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (Cubv), outlawed movement and victim of persecution, targeted by the authorities. In the central provinces celebrations prohibited and billboards and banners removed. Activists denounce "continuous harassment" of religious leaders, including Patriarch under house arrest.

Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Vietnamese authorities have launched a new campaign of repression against an Buddhist organization, not officially recognized by the government, in view of the festivities celebrating the birth of Buddha. The 2556thVesak in the history of Buddhism is celebrated tomorrow, May 5, and represents a major religious festivity for the faithful around the world. These days, the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB), headquartered in Paris, has reported a crackdown by Hanoi against the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (CBUV), an outlawed movement that has suffered decades of persecution and is a victim of the communist government .

According to the IBIB in the central provinces of Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam-Danag, Phu Yen and Binh Thuan pressures and threats of the police against the elder monks are increasing and traditional celebrations for the feast of Vesak have been banned. In particular, Hue authorities have forced the faithful to remove billboards and special banners for the festivity and, in recent weeks, several religious leaders were taken and subjected to interrogation. However, the monks have opposed the ban and intend to continue the celebrations and to pursue non-violent struggle with sit-ins and peaceful demonstrations.

For more than two thousand years Vesak is the most important festival of the Buddhist calendar. According to reports from Radio Free Asia (RFA), the country's Buddhist monks fear a harsh action by the Vietnamese authorities designed to block prayers and celebrations. "... The situation reflects the continuing raids and mistreatment - underline IBIB activists - that the members of the organization CBUV, outlawed throughout Vietnam, suffer." Among these there is also the condition of the patriarch Thic Quang Do, 84, leader of the movement and fresh from a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

The CBUV, which is not recognized by the government, was the main Buddhist organization in the southern and central Vietnam until 1975, when the government took over direct administration of all its property and institutions. In 1981, following its refusal to submit to the Communist Party, the government disbanded it and replaced it with the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which is effectively controlled by the state, but the CBUV has never recognized the authority and has not stopped the its religious activity. Since the '1990s, many monks have been arrested, while the "Supreme Patriarch" Thich Huyen Quang - who died in July 2008 - has often been threatened for his opposition to the government and has spent long periods under house arrest at his pagoda.

 

 

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