While the state-recognized Hoa Hao Buddhist Church has been allowed to celebrate its 85th anniversary, followers of two independent Hoa Hao Buddhist groups say police in An Giang province stopped them gathering.
On Sunday, the Central Executive Committee of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church held a ceremony in An Giang to commemorate the religion’s founding by Huynh Phu So, the Tuoi Tre online newspaper reported. It said Nguyen Anh Chuc, deputy head of the government Committee for Religious Affairs, attended along with community leaders.
However, at the Quang Minh Tu temple, about 20 km (12.4 miles) away, only a few followers made it past police surrounding the pagoda for a ceremony.
The pagoda’s abbot, Vo Van Thanh Liem, told Radio Free Asia that Hoa Hao believers who don’t follow the state-approved church have been victimized for nearly four decades with their treatment in recent years being particularly harsh.
“For the last two years, during the three days of the teacher's holiday [the police] blocked people from coming to the temple,” he said.
“This time, they also beat people and snatched their phones. The police used rocks to attack, and forced people to sign a pledge not to come again."
He said on June 19, police beat a man who was coming out of the temple leaving him with head injuries.
On June 21 and 22, police arrested two groups of followers, held them for several hours and forced them to sign letters promising not to visit the pagoda again, he said.
While hundreds or even thousands of believers come to the temple to pray on full moon days, only about a dozen people attended Sunday’s ceremony at Quang Minh Tu, the abbot said.
RFA Vietnamese called the commune police to verify the abbot’s account but no one answered the telephone.
Vietnam's constitution allows religious freedom but religious groups that do not register with authorities often say they are not free to worship and that in fact the government frequently oppresses them.
‘Just words’
Followers of the Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church also say they have been harassed by police.
The church’s chief secretary, Le Quang Hien, told RFA that 10 days before a ceremony on June 23, police stopped people visiting the church headquarters in Long Giang commune to hang a banner there.
“Vietnam says it respects human rights, freedom of movement, and freedom of religion, but that's just words,” he said.
“In reality, incidents happen to the Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church and other independent religions. There is no freedom of religion in Vietnam except when religions are recognized by the state and members of the Fatherland Front,” which oversees groups aligned with the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Ha Van Duy Ho, head of the Pure Hoa Hoa Buddhist Association of An Giang province, said police waited outside his home and kept tabs on him when he went out because he organizes the group’s religious holidays.
He said the police allow the group to hang banners that don’t include the word “pure” whereas in other provinces followers can put up banners saying “Pure Hoa Hao Buddhist Church,” and are allowed to gather to celebrate the group’s founding.
RFA Vietnamese called the director of An Giang provincial police department, the chief of Cho Moi district police, and the security team leader of the district police to verify the information Hien provided, but no one answered the telephone.
Edited by Mike Firn.