China Continues to Tear Down Crosses after Dark
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent
BEIJING (Worthy News)– About 4 a.m. on Oct. 17, hundreds of uniformed Chinese agents blocked all the entrances to Kaiyang village, then climbed over the Kaiyang Church wall, broke into the church building and forcibly removed its cross.
International Christian Concern also reported that two other church crosses in Zhejiang Province were removed that same day. This campaign of church cross removal has been carried out by China’s Zhejiang provincial government for more than six months. Now, the only cross left belongs to Zengshan Church in Pingyang County, but nearly one hundred Christians are guarding it.
Zhejiang’s provincial government has been removing “illegal” church structures under the cover of darkness while still claiming its anti-cross campaign has nothing to do with religious persecution. Yet the government’s clandestine activity continues despite the fact that Chinese law forbids forcible removal of any kind after dark.
So if these church crosses are illegal, why aren’t they being removed during the day?
“Zhejiang Provincial government must follow China’s law and stop tearing down church crosses illegally at night,” said Sooyoung Kim, ICC’s regional manager for Southeast Asia.