Hundreds of police in China removed a Christian cross from a church building located in a city known as “China’s Jerusalem” — the latest move in a larger mission to crack down on religion.
Evangelist Qu Linuo said about 200 of the church congregants rushed to the Longgan Huai En Church in Wenzhou Monday to protect their building — but to no avail. They ended up watching helplessly from the sidelines as police used a crane to tear off the 10-foot-tall cross that topped the building’s steeple, The Associated Press reported.
Police said the cross actually violated height limits and that’s why they were tearing it down, AP said.
They did return the cross to the church, AP reported.
But others in the community say this is just the latest example of police in the nation cracking down on religious freedom. Across the province, police have either taken down or threatened to tear down more than 130 crosses at Protestant churches in recent weeks — even razing the buildings in some instances, AP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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