Vietnam crowd blocks EU probe of Buddhist conflict

An angry crowd disrupted a meeting Wednesday between European Union representatives and followers of a famous Buddhist monk involved in a tense standoff with Vietnamese authorities, a Swedish diplomat said Wednesday. The crowd of roughly 100 people forced the EU delegation to postpone its session with followers of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, who has popularized Buddhism in the West and sold millions of books worldwide, said Mary Louise Thaning, the delegation leader. "They were very angry, so it was not useful to continue the meeting," said Thaning, the political counselor at the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi. Nhat Hanh's followers say they are being persecuted because their teacher called on Vietnam's Communist government to end state control of religion and dismantle the country's religious police. The government says they have failed to follow Vietnam's laws on religion and must return to their home villages.