Dozens of ex-nuns who staged a two-year protest sit-in at a Polish convent were forcibly evicted today by riot police.
Around 65 of them, and one monk, took over the building after the Vatican ordered the replacement of their mother superior Jadwiga Ligocka when she claimed to have 'holy visions'.
"They were disobedient," said a spokesman for the Lublin diocese of the Roman Catholic Church.
After a locksmith forced open the gate to the walled convent in the eastern Polish town of Kazimierz Dolny, police in riot gear pushed forward, and were met with a verbal onslaught from the Sisters of Bethany.
"They were swearing at policemen," a police spokesman said.
The church has refused to give details about the rebellion two years ago, but reports said Mother Jadwiga was a charismatic figure who had had religious visions, and was attempting to transform the convent into a contemplative order.
They were formally expelled as nuns by the Vatican in 2006, but the women refused to leave the building, cutting themselves off from the outside world. A former Franciscan friar lived with them.
The church eventually sought legal action to remove them, and a court recently ordered the eviction.
The convent's electricity was cut off earlier this year, but local residents sympathised with the ex-nuns' plight and secretly passed them food in the night.
AP