A group of priests and nuns were brutally beaten with iron bars, bricks and clubs by a group of « thugs » in Tianjin, a Chinese sea-side city, 150 km from Beijing, after having demonstrated against the expropriation of several buildings belonging to their diocese of Taiyuan and Yuci (Shanxi). The dynamics of the violence resemble to a large extent the incident that occurred in Xian several weeks ago, when 16 nuns were beaten for having stood in the way of the demolition of a diocesan school.
The Tianjin incident took place on December 16, at 2.15 p.m. One priest was knocked unconscious, a nun suffered head injuries and is still in hospital; other 4 priests are in bad condition. The priests called police. Upon the arrival of security forces, the “thugs” fled. The priests implored policemen to take the injured to hospital. The policemen initially agreed, but then took the priests to the police station to question them. They decided to take them to hospital only a few hours later.
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