A commune chief in Vietnam has blamed religion for last month's violent protests against the government by ethnic minority groups. The chief, known by the single name Wanh, blamed Protestants for the unrest, which took place in Vietnam's central highlands.
February's wave of apparently co-ordinated protests involved several hundred people in Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Daklak province, and about 4,000 people in Pleiku, in neighboring Gia Lai province, officials said.
Minority groups in the central highlands have complained that the government has placed restrictions on the practice of Protestantism. Wanh, speaking to foreign journalists on a government-organized visit in Gia Lai province, said local Communist authorities opposed
conversion of the ethnic peoples to Protestantism. "Only members of the church knew about the program (for the protests)," he said. "If they adhere to Protestantism, the villagers have to abandon all their cultural values ... That's why the government doesn't want them to adhere to Protestantism."
"All Protestants in the area belonged to illegal underground 'house churches'," Wanh explained, "since the government had not given approval to build a church."