Police halt Vietnamese group's aid to land protesters

HANOI, Aug 25 (Reuters) Police stopped an outlawed Buddhist group from giving money to peasant farmers protesting against appropriation of their land for development, the group and state-run Vietnam News Agency said today.

The arrests of a Buddhist monk and at least nine other people in the last few days was the latest manifestation of decades of tension between the ruling Communist Party and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV).

In July, UBCV deputy leader Thich Quang Do who is mostly restricted to his pagoda appeared at a demonstration in Ho Chi Minh City urging support for peasants who had organised one of the longest-running demonstrations of its kind in Vietnam.

The nearly month-long demonstration at a legislative office in the city ended on July 18.

This week, Buddhist monk Thich Khong Tanh went to Hanoi from Ho Chi Minh City to distribute 300 million dong (18,600 dollar) to protesters who accuse the government of confiscating their land and corruption.

The official news agency report said nine people were arrested and sent back to their home provinces. It said Tanh was also detained and then sent back to his home in Ho Chi Minh City.

VNA said that besides distributing money, ''Tanh was also assigned to incite petitioners present in Hanoi to lure others from other provinces and cities to flock to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City where they planned future demonstrations.'' The Paris-based International Buddhist Information Bureau said in a statement that Tanh was ''forcibly'' escorted home by police after interrogation by senior security police officers.

The bureau, which is the official information service of the UBCV, said Tanh's trip was the first in a series planned to distribute funds donated by Vietnamese around the world to its ''Relief Fund for Victims of Injustice''.

European countries and the United States have praised Hanoi for improving its religious rights record in recent years, but it has not lifted its ban on the UBCV, which rejects state supervision on all faiths. Buddhists have been organised by the Communist Party under the Vietnam Buddhist Church since 1981.

REUTERS RN KN1056