Hindus attack churches in India

[LRE]

Hindus attack churches in India

NEW DELHI: Suspected Hindu radicals in India ransacked three churches near the city of Bangalore on Sunday despite a crackdown after anti-Christian attacks in the region, reports said.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the vandalised churches were on the outskirts of Bangalore, the capital of southern Karnataka state, which is ruled by the Hindu nationalist BJP party. Television channels showed police firing tear gas outside the damaged churches and charging attackers with canes and rifles. Officers said the vandals belonged to the rightwing Bajrang Dal Hindu group.

On Saturday police arrested Mahendra Kumar, head of the Dal’s branch in Karnataka, and charged him with inciting sectarian attacks, which began a week ago. Almost two dozen churches in Karnataka have been attacked, following similar clashes in the eastern state of Orissa which left nearly 20 dead. The Orissa violence, triggered by the murder of a Hindu priest and four followers, forced thousands of people, mostly Christians, to flee their homes. Many are still living in state-run camps. Italy’s Roman Catholic bishops urged the European Union on Sunday to treat the persecution of Christians overseas as a humanitarian emergency after deadly attacks on Christian churches and homes in India. The bishops’ newspaper Avvenire used a front-page editorial to demand that violence against Christians must be on the agenda of an upcoming summit between the EU and India.

It warned of the growth of “Christianophobia” in many parts of the world, which it termed “the new anti-semitism of today” and equated with the spread of “Islamophobia” in the West. Hailing the US.government’s firm stance on the violence in India, the paper of the Italian Bishops’ Conference said Europe “must urgently apply the right of humanitarian assistance to the relationship beteween the new and the old democracies”. afp

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