On June 4th, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent 20,000 soldiers and tanks to crush student-led pro-democracy protest in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The government perceived the demonstrations as a threat to their authority. Tragically, 25 years later, the Chinese government is still trying to crush the rights, especially the religious rights, of its citizens. In fact, in just the past two months, a massive church and cross demolition campaign has been carried out in Zhejiang Province. Over 60 churches have been damaged under the guise of following codes to, "rectify and remove illegal construction for the purpose of urban development."
While the government of Zhejiang Province says it is removing illegal buildings, the truth is that the focus has been purely on religious buildings at the exclusion of all others. The New York Times on May 29th revealed a nine-page provincial policy statement saying "the (Chinese) government aims to regulate 'excessive religious sites' and 'overly popular' religious activities" and "the priority is to remove crosses at religious activity sites on both sides of expressways, national highways and provincial highways."
International Christian Concern (ICC) has received confirmation from local contacts that the Zhejiang government was targeting Christian sites and selectively enforcing the law. As of the end of May, at least 64 churches have been completely or partially removed, including the 4,000-seat Sanjiang Christian Church. Also, 85 house churches were warned to stop gathering, demonstrating that churches, not "illegal construction" is the problem.
Like in 1989, the Chinese government continues to target Christian human rights defenders, many of whom were inspired to pursue their work after the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Gao Zhisheng, a human rights lawyer defending Christians and others in court in attempts to keep them from torture and imprisonment, was himself tortured by police with cigarette butts and electric batons for more than seven weeks. In 2009, he was "forcibly disappeared," only to be discovered in a far-flung prison in Northwest China in 2012. However, Gao has not been seen again since January 2013. Gao is only one of the many Christian human rights lawyers who face harassment and arbitrary arrest for defending the rights of persecuted believers across China.
ICC's advocacy director, Isaac Six said, "It is unconscionable that a quarter of a century after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, China continues to aggressively assault the basic human rights, including religious freedom, of its own citizens. We call upon the Chinese government to fully respect the rights of its citizens, including the right to religious freedom. The government's campaign against churches prevents tens of thousands of Christians from exercising their basic rights. We also call on the Chinese government to allow lawyers and activists to defend the rights of others without fear of persecution or reprisal."
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