ICC Note:
Christians have been hospitalized after being beaten for refusing to allow the destruction of church property. Seven or eight Gang members hired by local authorities waited outside a restaurant for the pastor’s son and a friend and beat them. One of the victims had fractured bones, was bleeding profusely, and could barely open his eyes. The church is part of China’s state-run Three Self Patriotic Movement but refused to sign a land transfer agreement which would have required them to leave their building with little compensation. China is enforcing a massive crackdown on churches. Violence against members of the state-run church, however, represents a new direction in the attempt to stamp out religion in the country.
1/5/2017 China (China Aid) – Several Christians in China’s northern Hebei province were hospitalized with serious injuries after gang members hired by authorities attacked them for resisting the destruction of church property on Thursday. Local Christians have taken to protest after the hospitalizations.
Local officials plotted with land developers to coerce Fuxing Church, a state-run congregation meeting in a former school building, to sign a land transfer agreement, which would force the church to move. Fuxing Church is an officially registered church in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, China’s government-controlled Protestant church.
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