Indian Bishops Rally Catholics To Protest Killings

India's Catholic bishops called for nationwide rallies and asked schools to close on August 29 to protest against religious violence that has claimed eight lives in the state of Orissa.

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India, led by Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, also called for a nationwide day of prayer and fasting on September 7 in support of Christians in the eastern state and for communal harmony and peace, the group's spokesman, Babu Joseph, said in a phone interview in New Delhi yesterday.

Orissa, one of India's poorest states, has had outbreaks of religious violence in the past decade amid accusations by the Hindu majority that Catholic groups bribe or force marginalized groups to change their faith.

The latest bout of violence broke out after a Hindu leader who campaigned against the allegedly forced conversions was killed on August 23. Police imposed a curfew after a mob torched an orphanage run by a church, leading to the death of a woman.

"The situation is tense, but under control," the revenue divisional commissioner, Satyabrata Sahu, said by telephone from Kandhamal district. "Indefinite curfew has been imposed in all major towns of the district."