Five Dominican Friars Attacked in Zvolen While Returning from Confessions

Zvolen, December 29 (TASR) – Five Dominican friars were attacked, initially verbally and later also physically, by two men on the central square of Zvolen, pop. 43,000 in central Slovakia during the evening of the last Sunday of Advent as they were returning from hearing Christmas confessions, TASR learnt on Sunday.

According to Banska Bystrica regional police directorate spokesperson Petra Kovacikova, the aggressors were apprehended shortly after the incident.

“Charges of rowdiness were pressed against them,” said the police spokesperson. Nevertheless, the two men were later released and they’re now being prosecuted at large.

Dominican provincial Damian Macura thanked the police for a “very prompt intervention” and stated that the Order of Preachers is very sorry about what happened.

“We hadn’t intended to go public with the attack. However, as the word about it has been spreading anyway, we’d like to stress that we don’t harbour any anger against the attackers.

We also ask everyone who’s learned about the issue to keep calm. We’ve forgiven the attackers and we’re praying for them and their families. We don’t want to make any further comments for the media until the incident is resolved,” said Macura.