China Arrests 30 Protestants

BEIJING, Oct. 20, 00 (CWNews.com) - Chinese police have detained 30 members of an underground Protestant church, according to the New York-based Human Rights in China.

Among the 30 arrested on September 14 in Henan province was Liu Hongtao, 19, who was reported by another human rights group earlier this week to have died from injuries sustained at the hands of police. A Jiaozuo city police official, reached by telephone by the Associated Press, confirmed that about 30 members of the China Gospel Sect were detained in September, but he refused to say what has happened to them since. Asked if a 19-year-old had died in custody from mistreatment, he shouted "nonsense" and refused to answer more questions or give his name.

None of those detained have been released, Human Rights in China said, quoting Zhang Dawei, whom it described as the overseas spokesman for China's underground church movement.

The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations including the Three Self Protestant Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics and Protestants worship in illegal, underground churches.

CWN - Catholic World News
20. oktober 2000