Demolition workers and police officers attacked a group of pastors and their congregation in China Tuesday for trying to halt the demolition of their church.
Four pastors banded together with hundreds of people from a congregation in Wangcun Village to stand up against demolition workers who came with bulldozers to destroy a church that the government returned to the congregation four years ago, according to UCA News. Security officers attacked the group, injuring at least one man with blows to his head.
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Thousands of laymen answered the call for help after news of the standoff and assault went viral. A total of 20 priests and almost 2,000 laymen amassed at the church and staved off the demolition crew, according to Crux Now. At least 200 laymen guarded the church overnight, but Shen, parish priest of the church, told UCA News he thinks the officers and workers will return.
“The security officers and workers left only to discuss countermeasures. I fear that they will come back,” Shen said.
Authorities demolished the original church in 1992 and allowed a factory to be built on the grounds. The village government decided to return the property, along with the defunct factory building, to the Changzhi Diocese in 2012.
Village authorities, led by a local branch of the Communist Party, suddenly reversed their decision in April 2017 and announced Aug. 28 that they would demolish the building and the surrounding fence, which they claimed were illegally built. (RELATED: China To Ensure That Catholic Leadership Is In Beijing’s Control)
“We lodged a complaint in April. The local authority set up an investigative team that was meant to negotiate with the diocese, but there was no right of reply about their proposal, and so they straight away tried to demolish it by force,” Sheng said. “If it is demolished, the authority would not give any compensation to the diocese. We surely will not agree.”
The sudden decision to demolish the church, per instruction from the Communist Party, was par for the course with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on Christianity and Islam throughout China, and his administration’s efforts to bring them under Communist Party control.
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