Christian Protesters Violently Arrested In India; Priests And Nuns Dragged Into Police Buses

Rio Rose Ribaya Monday, February 09, 2015

Demonstrators shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest outside a church in New Delhi on Feb. 5, 2015. | REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

Indian police detained about 100 Christian protesters, including priests and nuns, dragging them into police buses after they demonstrated against a string of attacks on churches in the capital New Delhi on Thursday.

A spokesperson of the Delhi archdiocese said the police ruthlessly treated around 500 people for protesting against Christian persecution in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Fr. Savarimuthu Shankar, who was present during the demonstration, said the demonstrators were behaving peacefully, singing hymns and offering prayers when Delhi police charged and arrested them.

"They did not even spare the women and the elderly. They were even kicking the people who fell down on the ground after the crackdown," Shankar said, according to UCA News.

Holding placards that read "Stop the vandalism, We want justice," the Christian protesters were supposed to go to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence to bring to his attention the concerns of Christian community about the recent attacks.

But a large number of policemen stopped the activists from protesting and detained many of them, saying the protest outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral in central Delhi was "unlawful."

The Delhi police reportedly imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code of 1973, which empowers a magistrate to prohibit an assembly of more than 10 people in an area.

Citing other reports, First Post said the police said they wanted to move the protesters to Jantar Mantar, which is a about a kilometer away. "Police want us to be inside the church campus. Why can't we protest on the street? We have the permission," a protester was quoted by First Post.

Other Christian activists accuse Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of inaction to prevent or investigate the incidents.

The arrests came after a church was vandalized by unidentified assailants in South Delhi's Vasant Kunj area on Feb. 2 – a case that has seen very little progress, the Christian activists said.

This was the fifth such attack on a Christian church in India since November last year, First Post reported.