2014-08-28
Security guards set up roadblocks at the Aojiang township in China’s Zhejiang province as the cross of the Guangming Church is removed, Aug. 28, 2014.
Photo courtesy of a church member.
Authorities in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang on Thursday dispatched more than 1,000 security personnel to remove a cross from a Christian church building, local Protestants said.
The security guards arrived outside the Guangming Church in Aojiang township near the eastern city of Wenzhou, scuffling with several dozens of its congregants.
Eventually, the authorities beat back the protesters, with a number of injuries reported in the process, and succeeded in bringing down the cross, eyewitnesses said.
“They demolished [it] at about 5.00 to 6.00 p.m.,” a Protestant pastor who asked to remain unnamed told RFA on Thursday. “The first time they tried it, they were unsuccessful.”
“More than 1,000 people came, because they were afraid that the congregants wouldn’t allow them to pull it down,” the pastor said.
He said the security guards had met with little resistance, however.
“There weren’t many of them; only a few dozen,” the pastor said. “There’s not much we can do about it now; the government was determined to pull it down.”
Most of the security personnel were private security guards, although some riot police also came to the scene, he said.
“They used temporary labor to do it,” he said, adding that such a process typically costs the government around 50,000 yuan (U.S.$8,140 ).
Stepped-up campaign
Guangming Church members look at the removed and broken cross. (Photo courtesy of a church member)
Authorities in Zhejiang have stepped up a campaign to remove visible crosses from Christian churches in recent weeks.
According to an online report apparently posted by one of the security guards, the government paid each of them 300 yuan (U.S.$49) for the day’s work.
