ICC Note:
Six Christians were injured when a group of about 60 alleged Hindu radicals attacked a church in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The assailants justified their violence by claiming the Christians were engaged in forced conversions. Attacks on Christians and their places of worship have dramatically increased in 2016. Open Doors USA ranked India 15 on their World Watch List and have estimated that Christians in India were attacked 10 time a week on average in 2016. Is this attack on the church in Gorakhpur just the beginning of another tough year for Christians?
01/18/2017 India (Times of India) – Six people were injured when a group of about 60 alleged Hindu activists attacked a church on Thursday. The activists claimed that the church was forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity.
AB Lal, the pastor of Full Gospel Church at Moti Pokhra area in Gorakhpur, said, “The attackers were waving saffron flags and were armed with sticks. They barged into the church and kept chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.”
“The attackers said they belonged to Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) and other Hindu groups,” he said. Lal added the miscreants vandalized the church for almost an hour.
Police said a case against unknown persons had been registered on the complaint made by church authorities.
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