More than 60 Christians injured in violent desecration of a church

In the province of Zhejiang in southern China, the dispute between the authorities and the Christian population concerning the removal of crosses and the closure their houses of worship is about to escalate – according to a warning published by the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). Thus, more than 60 Christians were injured in the city of Wenzhou on Monday, when police forces broke through a human chain with which the believers had tried to protect their church's cross. "The security forces used iron rods and shields against the 1,000 peaceful protesters," reported Ulrich Delius, the STP's Asia-consultant, in Göttingen on Wednesday. "The Christians had gathered around the Sjuitou Salvation Church to try to prevent the cross from being removed from their church." In Wenzhou alone, the authorities removed more than 160 crosses from churches and destroyed three houses of worship since the beginning of the year. In the same period, more than 360 crosses were torn from churches in the entire province of Zhejiang.

"The recent incident marks a new level of violence and of the conflict concerning the growing Christian communities in the province, which is located 500 kilometers to the south of Shanghai," said Delius. "The excessive use of brute force in Wenzhou clearly shows that the Communist Party in Zhejiang is trying to restrict the freedom of religion even for the religious communities of state-approved churches." The Sjuitou Salvation Church belongs to the state-approved and officially registered Three-Self Patriotic Movement, for which the Chinese constitution guarantees free practice of faith.

The pastor of the Salvation Church, Zhan Yingsheng, had locked himself inside the church several days before the recent escalation of violence as an attempt to protect the cross. On July 16, 2014, he had even started a hunger strike to prevent the desecration of his church. Since it was known that the demolition squads sent by the authorities tend to carry out their activities at nighttime, the believers had organized the human chain for the night.

The city of Wenzhou is to be seen as a center of the emerging Christian faith in China. At least one million of the eight million inhabitants are Christians. There are more than 2,000 church buildings in the city.

The authorities claim that their actions were not directed specifically against Christian churches, but against all buildings that were built without permission. However, the Chinese Christians see the incidents as a targeted campaign to restrict religious belief and to limit the number of believers.

Ulrich Delius, head of STP's Asia department, is available for further questions: Tel. 0551 49906 27 or asien@gfbv.de.