Over 70 Christians have been arrested as part of a large-scale crackdown on civil liberties in East China, with 20 having also been fined thousands of Chinese Yuan.
Hostility from the Chinese state has been increasing for around three months and has seen hundreds of police officers and about 200 vehicles deployed to find anyone involved in Bible study groups across the region, according to Open Doors.
The organisation’s research indicates that the authorities are looking to shut down all churches, even including those associated with the state-recognised Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and Catholic Patriotic Association (CPA), suggesting that Christians are viewed as a major threat to their authority.
