Karwar: Christians from across Uttara Kannada district on Thursday took out a silent procession here seeking rejection of the report submitted by the Somasekhar commission on the attacks on churches in the State.

They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the Deputy Commissioner.

The procession began from the church in Kajubag and ended in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner.

In his memorandum, Bishop Derek Fernandis said that the community was hurt by the attacks on churches in September 2008.

The community was feeling insecure after the BJP came to power in the State. There were reports of attacks on the places of worship of Christians all over Karnataka, including Uttara Kannada. The population of Christians in the State had declined from 2.4 to 2.1 per cent. Despite this, the allegation of conversion was being levelled against the community, he said.

The memorandum said though the Christian community was in minority, it had taken up many social works such as construction of hospitals and educational institutions.

The community wanted its rights safeguarded. The cases of attacks on churches should be handed over to the CBI as Christians had lost the faith in the BJP Government, the memorandum said. The report of the commission was a farce and failed to identify those who had attacked churches.

Christian leaders of Uttara Kannada Frankie Fernandis, Margaret Furtado, Samsung D'souza and Rudolf Fernandez were present.