Added: Jan 31st, 2008 2:45 AM
By BosNewsLife News Center
BEIJING, CHINA (BosNewsLife)-- Members of a house church in China's Yunan Province were "severely beaten" by police officials, who earlier "burned" the church's Bibles, a Christian rights group said Wednesday, January 30.
The incident occurred last week, January 23, when church members, Chen Xiqiong and Liang Guihua, walked into the an office of the Public Security Bureau (PSB), one of China's main
law enforcement agencies, in the province's Xishan District, said the China Aid Association (CAA), which is in close contacts with the believers.
They wanted to "account of the items, including Bibles, which were taken from the church and burned by police officials in early December of 2007," CAA told BosNewsLife.
"After ignoring the members' request, officials proceeded to violently remove them from the office. One female church member, 54-year-old Liang Guihua, was thrown into a wall and rendered unconscious for more than 10 minutes," the group claimed. "After the assault the members went to a local hospital for evaluation."
MEMBERS DETAINED
It was difficult to reach police officials for comment. Officials who witnessed the event allegedly refuse to testify on the members' behalf.
CAA said the troubles began December 5, 2007, when policemen disrupted the house church meeting in the provincial capital Kunming, "and [briefly] detained several members." After searching the building, officials "seized several hundred Christian books including Bibles and note-pads, and proceeded to burn them outside of the residence," CAA said.
The organization said that authorities "have now resorted to the burning of Bibles...to hinder the growth of the House Church [movement] in China." China's government has denied human rights abuses, saying Christians are free to worship with the official Protestant and Catholic churches. However rights groups say most of China's estimated 130 million Christians prefer to worship outside government control in homes of believers.
CAA said it has been urging "the international community to demand an accounting of these officials for the egregious acts committed against the house church members in Yunan Province."
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