Chinese authorities are continuing their campaign of removing crosses in Zhejiang province, one of the latest being taken from a Catholic Church.
Government officials removed the cross of Yongqiang parish’s Zhuangyuan Church just before dawn on February 25, two weeks after Zhejiang’s religious affairs director called for “religious stability” in the region ahead of the September G20 summit in the provincial capital, Hangzhou.
Although the Catholic community in Yongquiang had been warned that the cross would be removed, they were unable to stop state officials despite successfully resisting a similar attempt to remove it last year.
At least 18 Protestant church crosses have been removed in the region so far this year, though this is the first time authorities have targeted the smaller 210,000-strong Catholic community.