ROME — Some 40 soldiers of the ruling military junta raided the Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Mandalay, Myanmar, Friday, detaining Archbishop Marco Tin Win and dozens of the faithful.
The soldiers stormed the cathedral as well as other buildings on the compound at around 2:30pm Friday, before a scheduled Lenten prayer service, Catholic News Agency (CNA) reported.
The vicar general of the archdiocese, Monsignor Dominic Jyo Du, heard of the occupation and confronted the soldiers, after which he was detained in the cathedral together with the archbishop.
The motive behind the raid is not completely clear but probably is related to the predominance of ethnic Tamil Indians — distrusted by the military and militant Buddhists — in the neighborhood of Sacred Heart Cathedral, CNA reported.
Archbishop Marco Tin Win has also been one of the most vocal Catholic leaders in denouncing the violence that followed the military coup d’état of February 1, 2021.
One witness said that the soldiers interrogated the detained faithful, demanding to know where gold, money, and weapons were hidden. The witness told them there was none because any money collected was for the relief of poor families.
The faithful were permitted to leave several hours after they had been detained, but the majority of the soldiers slept in the cathedral overnight and were still inside early Saturday morning.
State-controlled media in Myanmar have not reported on the occupation of the cathedral, CNA reported.
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