Sisters demonstrate in Ho Chi Minh City asking for their home back -Vietnam
Lan Nguyen; 21/3/08
A new controversy has erupted in Vietnam over Church property. After those at the start of the new year in Hanoi, protests concerning a building owned by the Sisters of the Vinh Son Charity Order have broken out in Ho Chi Minh City. Since 17 March a few hundreds of them have been gathering every day to pray in front of their seized property which local authorities would like to turn into a hotel with night club. The property in question on Nguyen Thi Dieu has belonged to the Order since December 1959 after the French Red Cross transferred ownership to the sisters. The nuns opened a day care center that operated till 1975 when the communists came to power. Eventually the archdiocese of Saigon and the Order had to agree to let the local government use the facility as a school for kindergarteners. Over the sisters’ protest the authorities took ownership of the building in 1997 by simple administrative fiat (75083/QD-UB), arguing that the property was in the state of absentee-landlord. Soon, the property was rented out in order to financially support local government and converted to a dancing club. In 2007, police raided the club and reported that the property was actually being run as a brothel. The club was shut down.