Police in Beijing detained more than 30 evangelical Christians as they attempted to gather outdoors for Easter services and confined about 500 to their homes, continuing a broad crackdown on dissent that has also targeted lawyers, bloggers and human-rights activists.
Church leaders as well as U.S.-based ChinaAid, a group that tracks cases of religious persecution of Christians in China, confirmed at least 34 worshipers were detained in northwest Beijing’s Haidian district. It was the third time in recent weeks that police have detained church members as they attempted to gather for services.
The recent crackdown comes during a period of heightened tension in Beijing as anonymous online calls for a “Jasmine Revolution” have set the country’s security apparatus on edge. Ai Weiwei, the widely known artist and activist, is in police custody on what authorities describe as an investigation into “economic crimes.”
Clearly, we must enforce a no-fly zone over China and impose trade sanctions immediately.