October 09, 2003

Buddhist church reports standoff in central Vietnam
By Ben Stocking
Mercury News Vietnam Bureau

HANOI - Supporters of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam said nearly 1,000 monks had a dramatic standoff with security police Wednesday after the authorities blocked two top church leaders from traveling to Ho Chi Minh City.

Church members and their supporters in Paris said the top two church leaders were surrounded by a group of about 40 security police officers as they attempted to set off on their trip before dawn Wednesday. The monks -- one of whom was seeking medical treatment in the former Saigon -- were not able to proceed, church members said, until a legion of fellow Buddhists arrived to show their support.

Security police in Binh Dinh denied that the incident occurred, insisting that Thich Huyen Quang, the church patriarch, and Thich Quang Do, the church's second-highest official, were free to travel as they pleased. Officials in Hanoi have yet to comment.

It was impossible to independently confirm the details of the standoff, which reportedly occurred outside the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh province in central Vietnam. Western reporters cannot travel to the area without government permission, and Hanoi officials did not respond Wednesday to requests to travel there.

The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau -- which routinely issues news releases on behalf of the church -- described a dramatic standoff. It said about 40 people -- plainclothes security officers and ``hired thugs'' -- surrounded the monks' van and prevented them from moving. The group slashed the van's tires and hurled stones at the windows, according to the bureau.

At 10 a.m., five hours after the standoff began, about 1,000 Buddhists formed a ``human wall'' around the van to protect church leaders, who were refusing to sign a report that accused them of ``disturbing the public order,'' the Buddhist Information Bureau said. By 4:30 p.m., the police and their supporters had dispersed, and the monks proceeded to Ho Chi Minh City, about 400 miles away.

Quang has a throat ailment and was planning to seek medical treatment, according to the bureau.

Tensions had been rising at the Binh Dinh monastery this week, the bureau said. Local security police and government officials had summoned Do for ``working sessions'' and he had been ordered to return to his home in Ho Chi Minh City, the bureau said.