Police-Sponsored Gang Attacks Church in Central Vietnam

A gang said to be following police orders attacked a Central Vietnam pastor's family with iron bars and wooden clubs, seriously injuring some, Compass Direct News reports. On the same Sunday that local authorities disrupted pastor Thien An's house church service, a gang of about 20 men attacked his family -- who locked Pastor Thien away in a secure room because they believed the gang wanted to kill him -- twice, at 1 p.m. and then again at 8:30 p.m. During both attacks, Pastor Thien called four levels of police and security officials for help, but his calls went unanswered; church members said "even a child" could figure out the connection between the public security police and the gang who attacked them. Police had visited his home the week before to "investigate" his house church, whose application for registration had been denied twice by authorities.