Bishops condemn police raid on South African church housing refugees

Published: 2008-02-04

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference condemned a police raid on a Johannesburg Methodist church that houses more than 1,300 refugees, mostly from Zimbabwe. "We join Bishop Paul Verryn of the Methodist Church in decrying the violation of the status of the church as a place of sanctuary," the bishops said in a Feb. 1 statement after police were said to have assaulted refugees and destroyed their property in the early hours of Jan. 31. The bishops said, "By providing shelter to the homeless, the stranger and the refugee, the church is carrying out the injunction of Jesus Christ." The raid "was entirely inappropriate, uncalled for and an unwelcome manifestation of xenophobia," they said. The bishops said Zimbabweans should be regarded as prima-facie refugees because, under the terms of the Organization of African Unity Refugee Convention, "they have left their home because of 'events seriously disturbing public order.'"

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .