2015-03-23 15:40:00

Two more Churches vandalized in India


“I am pained and saddened at these two incidents, which are malicious and mischievous” said Card. Gratias on Monday condemning the recent two church attacks in India.

It is learnt that three masked men on motorcycles approached the St. George Catholic Church in New Panvel on Saturday morning and hurled stones and smashed a glass case protecting the statue of Saint George.

In the other incident on Friday, assailants entered the Cathedral complex of the Jabalpur diocese in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state.

CCTV footage showed a group of men smashing plant pots, breaking down doors and shattering windows on the grounds of the cathedral.

On Monday, state police said they had arrested six people in the Jabalpur attack. However, they were later released on bail saying they were charged with minor offences under the Indian Penal Code’.

Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur called the releases “very unfortunate”.  He  said on the same night as the Jabalpur attack, assailants entered a school building a kilometer away and beat up Catholics they had found inside. The victims had travelled to the church for an annual Bible convention, he said.

Marko Baba, a Catholic leader in Jabalpur, said he witnessed some of the attack after friends called him to tell him about the disturbance. He told ucanews.com that the assailants accused the victims of participating in conversions.

The latest attacks on churches show that “the situation is turning from bad to worse,” said Cardinal Baselios Cleemis, who heads the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.

Previously an under-construction church in a village in Hisar district of Haryana was vandalised.  The church attacks in India have been increasing in the recent past. (UCAN, AsiaNews)

 

 








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