Hindu mob attacks bishop, church officials in India

Published: 2006-02-01

NEW DELHI (CNS) -- Bishop Thomas Dabre of Vasai, India, and other church officials were attacked when they visited a remote village in western India to bless a church hostel for poor Hindu students. When Bishop Dabre finished the blessing of Sunrise hostel Jan. 29 at Ghosali village, about 90 miles north of Mumbai, a mob of about 200 Hindus shouted slogans, pelted stones and damaged the new building and three church vehicles. The mob shouted "Christians go back" and "foreign dogs get out," but Bishop Dabre said he and the priests ignored the shouting, reported UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand. "This was well planned. It arose from the same tactic of anti-Christian propaganda" by Hindu fundamentalist groups, Bishop Dabre told Catholic News Service Jan. 31 from his office in Vasai, near Mumbai.

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