From: bcsabha.kal...@gmail.com To: From: president....@gmail.com To: president....@gmail.com
“CHRISTIANS FOR PEACE” SOLIDARITY RALLY With increasing incidents of violence and hatred against the Christian community and its churches and institutes and the Government’s total silence through all of this, we are deeply concerned as a community. The Bombay Catholic Sabha together with Indian Christian Voice and other Christian organisations and groups are holding a Rally at Azad Maidan on Monday 9 February at 3 pm to protest against the recent attacks on Churches in Delhi and the arrest of peaceful demonstrators yesterday. Noted social activists and heads of various religious groups will address the Rally. We invite you to attend the Rally along with your friends and family in large numbers. Plz encourage as many as possible to join in the Rally and make it a success. Gordon D'Souza President - The BCS Police crack down on Christian protesters Priests, nuns among those detained during peaceful demonstration in Delhi. Posted on February 6, 2015, 8:40 AM Police surround demonstrators protesting outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi on Thursday New Delhi: Delhi police on Thursday detained more than 100 Christian protesters, including priests and nuns, who were dragged into police buses during a demonstration against the most recent in a string of attacks on churches. Holding placards and shouting slogans, approximately 500 protesters gathered in front of the Sacred Heart Cathedral to demonstrate against what they said was increasing incidents of Christian persecution in the national capital. Fr Savarimuthu Shankar, spokesperson of the Delhi archdiocese, said the police treated the protesters ruthlessly. “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,” he added. According to Fr Shankar, who was present at the protest, the group had been behaving peacefully — singing hymns and offering prayers. Samuel Jayakumar of the National Council of Churches in India, who was also one of the protesters, told ucanews.com that a delegation from the community has gone to meet federal home minister Rajnath Singh to bring to his attention the concerns of the Christian community regarding the recent attacks. The protest, which was staged following a February 2 attack on a church in south Delhi, comes just two days before the Delhi assembly elections. The attackers broke the tabernacle of the St Alphonsa’s church and scattered the host. They also entered the Sacristy of the church. It was the fifth attack on a church in Delhi in a span of two months. The community has been facing such incidents since December 1, when fire engulfed the St Sebastian Church in the Dilshad Garden area of Delhi. A few days after the church-burning incident, a Catholic Church in Jasola area was stoned by unidentified people. A crib was allegedly burned earlier this month while a service was being held in a church in the Rohini area of Delhi. On January 14, a Catholic church was attacked and its grotto damaged by three unidentified men. Fr Dominic Emmanuel, one of the protesters detained by police, called the crackdown “brutal and illegal”. “We have all the right to make our voices heard. We were legitimately protesting against the harm done on our churches,” he told ucanews.com from inside the police station. Police officials were not available for comment on Thursday despite repeated attempts by ucanews.com. NDTV quoted senior police officer Mukesh Kumar Meena as saying the group had “no permission to protest on the road”. “They can't just march to the home minister's residence. We have to protect the residence of VIPs," he reportedly said. Source: ucanews.com