Emeute à Colva en Inde – janvier 2010
Catholics riot over priest defamation
http://www.ucanews.com
January 4, 2010
PANAJI, India (UCAN) — Catholics from a Goa parish have staged a violent protest, blocking roads and ransacking the home of a village leader who they say had circulated a CD defaming their priest.
The parishioners of the Church of Our Lady of Merces in Colva ended their protest on Dec. 29, after Goa’s state officials, including the chief minister, pledged to arrest the alleged culprit.
Parishioners staged their protest after an audio CD was circulated, allegedly by Calvert Gonsalves, a member of the village council. The CD accused Father Diogo Fernandes of embezzling funds for a school building and living with a woman.
The CD recording also accused the Church hierarchy of selling off Church land and pocketing the funds.
Gonsalves, who went into hiding when the protest began, has not been arrested.
Jason Andrade, from the parish council, said in a police complaint filed on Dec. 26 that the CD had shocked villagers.
Hundreds took to the streets, attacking Gonsalves’ home and torching a fast-food kiosk. They also set up barricades along major thoroughfares and burned tires.
Tension had actually started in May after someone circulated defamatory letters about the priest. Parishioners were angered then because the police took no action despite three complaints being filed.
Rene A.A. Mesquita, another parishioner, alleged the « vilification campaign » was carried out by some Catholics upset at the priest’s close scrutiny of parish accounts.
These Catholics were handling the parish accounts and money, when the priest started examining the accounts, he said.
He also alleged this same group had defamed a number of priests who had worked in the parish over the past 16 years. « If a priest failed to agree with them, he would be accused of a number of things, » he told UCA News.
Colva police inspector Edwin Colaco said a case had been filed against those believed to be behind the CD and an investigation has begun.
Official Church spokesperson Father Francis Caldeira refused to comment on the issue.
Informations
Colva is a white sand beach in the South Goa district of Goa, India. Colva beach is one of the longest in the world (24 km).
anthropologie du présent 
Bonjour, je tombe sur votre article en cherchant les nouvelles de Colva en vue d’un nouveau séjour. Comme partout l’Eglise est riche et magouille, si ce n’est le curé en place, le conseil de paroisse s’en occupe. Et les terrains à Colva doivent flamber. Le calme est-il revenu ? Cet hiver j’étais en Thailande, autres émeutes très manipulées. Attention à la mort du roi, le pays sera en sang. Je voudrais bien retourner à Colva, j’aime beaucoup et j’ai connu le village paisible (30 ans)et vu les changements rapides. Est-ce vrai que les constructions trop proches de la plage seront démolies ? De la place pour parquer les motos !!!! Le calme est-il revenu ? Bonnes salutations. M.D.