WASHINGTON DC - September 25, 2008: Less than week after the US State Department praised Vietnam for improvements in religious freedom made over the past year, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has called upon the State Department to redesignate the nation as one of the worst violators of religious freedom.

The commission's request came as more than 5,000 Catholics gathered in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) for a public demonstration of support for their co-religionists in Hanoi. Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Saigon has directed all pastors to read their congregations his public statement protesting the propaganda campaign against Catholic leaders in Hanoi. Meanwhile in Hanoi, a noisy demonstration organized by the Communist Party called for legal action against Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet.