In an open defiance of the threats of “extreme actions” against them, this morning Nov. 18 thousands of Catholics in Hanoi led by priests and religious marched on the streets of Hanoi downtown to demand justice.

The rally took place after more than 500 riot police and militiamen were deployed at Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery to back the construction of a hospital sewage treatment system on the land of the Monastery despite strong protests of the Redemptorist and their faithful. At 10:30 pm local time on Nov. 16, a large number of heavily armed security personnels moved into the area. Under the protection of their guns, building workers and dozens of bulldozers worked around the clock to install the sewage treatment system right next to the Thai Ha Church.

Two weeks earlier, there was also a violent incident at Hanoi Redemptorist Monastery on Nov. 3rd when a group of about 100 people, who, from nowhere, broke into the courtyard of Thai Ha parish church with two loud speakers in their hands cursing at religious, priests, and parishioners, before physically attacking them. The intruders also insulted and threatened to kill many clergy and parishioners. More outrageously, they even used sledgehammers to smash the church's properties. They only abandoned their act of terror, and withdrew when the bells started tolling and countless people from the neighbouring parishes came to rescue.

Catholics from various parishes in Hanoi Archdiocese gathered in front of the office of People's Committee of Hanoi with a sea of banners. One stated that "Do not trespass on religious land and property", another demanded the government to "return what you borrow". Another denounced the media campaign of the government to repress and sully the will for justice, peace, and truth of Hanoi Catholics. One could read: "We protest Hanoi TV's defamation and distortion of the truth about Thai Ha parish".

A banner from Dong Anh Parish, where their church yard has been seized for decades, wrote "Do not turn a sacred place into a place of dissipation", referring to part of the disputed land was turned into a dancing bar by the authorities, that has disrupted frequently their Masses.

At some points, a large group of plain-clothed and uniformed police officers surrounded a group of protestors photographing and videotaping at a close range in an obvious intimidation tactic.

“I do not fear. We need to lift the veil on the injustices committed in Vietnam,” Peter Tuan Nguyen told Asia-News.

“Why I came here? Well, to protest before the international community the ongoing persecutions we have suffered for almost 7 decades,” said Maria Thanh Tran.