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| East Asia |
| Cambodian mob trashes Christian church |
| 2003-07-14 |
| A mob of more than 100 Cambodian Buddhists has trashed a Christian church during a Sunday mass in the remote southeast of the country causing "small casualties", officials have said. Buddhists? Hun Neng, governor Svey Rieng province said the mob rampaged through the church, at Kok Pring, smashing windows, lights and ditching bibles into ponds of water. "Yesterday, there were more than a hundred of people who went on the rampage and hit the Christian church during mass," he said. He said the mob accused the Christians of looking down on Buddhists but authorities had deployed police to the area, which prevented the mob from razing the building. "The attack caused small casualties," he said, adding that no further details were available. Cambodia has experienced a rise in religious tensions since Christian evangelists began moving here once this country began emerging out of communism in 1989. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #2 Never HEARD of such a thing... Buddhists trashing anything, much less a church - no matter whose, where or why. Simply put, they aren't Buddhists - as anyone who's lived in a Buddhist country knows, for an absolute fact. Whoever labeled them such, is using a mighty broad brush - they're just thugs. Cambodian thugs. Same breed of Cambodian thugs who trashed the Thai Embassy a few months ago over an imaginary slight. Thais are Therabodan (sp?) Buddhists and would never NEVER do more than protest - and it would have to be something they felt was inhumanly unfair. In 1992 I was in Bangkok the day before the first elected Govt took over (Sept 30th, IIRC). There were police (ordered to suppress by the Military) and "students" doing their thing in the streets. I was coming out of the Oracle Bldg on Silom downtown just as the festivities swept by. I came out of the door and, other than the police and students, I seemed to be the only person on the street. I hesitated and stared at the scene. After about 30 seconds, the police turned OFF their water cannon and the demonstrators stopped hollering - and it seemed like the whole world was staring at ME! I realized they were calling a pause for me - amazing! I hustled my dumb farang butt around a corner and then I heard them resume the show. And that's what it was. "We're really really happy about the elections and really really mad about the Military's corrupt rule. So we're going to show you how happy we are you're outta here. We'll holler alot and get wet. Fun for the whole family. Farangs need not apply - it's a Thai thing. It's a Buddhist thing." The worst situation is when a Buddhist resorts to self-violence (immolation) to make his point. There IS no step in Buddhism of violence directed at others, Qwai Chang Caine and Hollywood notwithstanding. |
| Posted by: PD 2003-7-14 10:35:39 PM |
| #1 Angry Fundamentalist Buddhists (tm)? Geeze, what will they think of next? |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2003-7-14 6:07:36 PM |