An Austrian group says 260 people have called its hot line since March 23 to report incidents of alleged abuse by clergy or employees of institutions run by the Catholic church.The Platform Of Those Affected By Church Violence says 70 percent of the callers were men and 30 percent were women.
It says 58 percent of male callers and 40 percent of female callers reported sexual abuse, with the rest reporting physical or verbal abuse.
The group says it's tough to quantify the actual number of incidents since most callers _ aged 54 on average _ often reported being repeatedly abused during their childhood.
The group released the statistics Thursday after calling for a state-run commission to probe the alleged abuse during a closed-door meeting with Austrian parliamentarians.
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