Release International

Police drafted in to protect church service - pastor's house stoned - armed men threaten nursing mother

Angry mobs in Sri Lanka have threatened churchgoers and demanded a halt to church services. They burst in on a pastor's wife as she was nursing her baby, overturned furniture and threatened to destroy their belongings unless they stopped all Christian activity. The following Sunday the church service had to be held under police protection.

Three churches have been threatened in the latest round of intimidation against Christians in Sri Lanka.

On January 22 a 500-strong mob carrying placards descended on 50 Christians worshipping at an Assemblies of God church in Ganemulla. They included 20 Buddhist monks who shouted threats and vowed to return unless the Christians stopped holding church services.

The following morning at about 3am militants stoned the pastor's house, damaging its windows.

Earlier, on the evening on January 21, a mob of some 20 men armed with rods and sticks entered a pastor's home in Alpitiya. The pastor's wife was alone with her three small children. She was nursing her baby when five men strode into her bedroom.

They demanded to know where the pastor was, overturned a table, chairs and other furniture and issued an ultimatum. They demanded an end to all Christian activity at the Assemblies of God church 'including services' or they would destroy all the pastor's belongings.

The service went ahead on Sunday as planned - but under police protection.

And a third church was targeted during Christmas Day and New Year's Day services. A group gathered to shout threats at the congregation of the Kings Revival Church In Alawwa.

Release International (RI), which supports the persecuted church, is concerned about the growing climate of intimidation towards Christians in Sri Lanka. Christians face increasing harassment, usually by militant Buddhists.

RI has handed in a 23,000-strong petition to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London calling on Sri Lanka to drop plans for an anti-conversion law that would pose a direct threat to religious freedom.

The legislation could severely restrict outreach and charity activities and result in legal actions against Christians.

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