A file image of a policeman standing guard outside the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, Shandong Province. Six Christian women were taken into police custody after they held a Bible study class in a church in central China on Jan. 10. (Photo by AFP)
Officials interrupted a Bible study in a church in China's central Hubei province on Jan. 10, taking six Christian women into police custody and confiscating church property.
Officers from the local religious affairs, public security, and urban management bureaus broke into the church and accused the people gathered there of holding illegal religious meetings, according to a China Aid report."We rented a room in the county for regular gatherings. The religious affairs bureau posted a notice, accused us of illegally [gathering], and threatened to ban our church," a pastor of the church, surnamed Zhang said.
"We did not stop the gatherings; on the contrary, we kept on meeting. The officers from the government departments came and took away our doormat, but we managed to get it back. After about 30 or 40 minutes, they simply walked in and began to grab our chairs. The [Christian] brothers tried to stop them, and the officers began to shove us away and beat us up. They took our stuff away in the end."
The authorities also detained six Christian women, including another one of the church's pastors. All were given a detention sentence ranging from 10 to 15 days on the charge of organizing unauthorized religious activities.