China's Christians Struggle With Persecution
With the rise of Christian persecution at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party over the past year, Chinese Christians are starting to speak out after many have been arrested for defending church crosses from forceful government removal.
"At least nine people I know have been taken away by the police and that figure is still rising," an unnamed church leader in the eastern province of Zhejiang told The Guardian on Thursday.
"We think it is a campaign targeting church leaders across the province. It can only be a co-ordinated action initiated by the provincial government."
Radio Free Asia added that human rights laywers, such as Zhang Kai from Beijing, have been arrested for offering advice and support to pastors of Protestant churches who have seen the crosses removed.
"They did it on the quiet, in the middle of the night," a member of Xialing Church in Wenzhou said. "They didn't tell anybody in our church that this would happen."
