According to the China Central Television, the police on Tuesday arrested more than 400 members from the religious cult group, in western China's Qinghai province alone.
Police seized leaflets, video
discs, books and other apocalyptic materials in the recent arrests of
more than 500 people across eight provinces and regions, from the
prosperous east coast to less developed western China, state media
reports said.
The detentions come ahead of
Friday, Dec. 21 — a date some say the Mayans prophesized would be the
end of the world and which was the subject of the apocalyptic movie
"2012."
Those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, which is also called Eastern Lightning,
after a phrase from the Bible's Book of Matthew. Widely regarded as a
heretical Christian sect, the group preaches that Jesus has reappeared
as a woman in central China. It has been accused of targeting
Christians, kidnapping and beating them to force conversions.
Chinese society has been in
tumult as decades of rapid free-market economic growth discredit
communist ideology, loosen social controls and pull hundreds of millions
from the countryside to the cities. Into the spiritual void have rushed
traditional Buddhist groups and Daoist practices, as well as
evangelical Christian churches and other spiritual groups, some with
unorthodox and apocalyptic visions.
Eastern Lightning first appeared
around 20 years ago, and the official Xinhua News Agency said that its
members had "recently latched on to the Mayan doomsday prophesy to
predict that the sun will not shine and electricity will not work for
three days beginning on Dec. 21."
A public notice on the web site
of Qinghai provincial government said local police are waging a "severe
crackdown" on the group described as a cult with "strong political
penchants." The government urged the public to inform the police of any
illegal propaganda, gathering and preaching by the group.
The CCTV report called the group a
cult and accused it of attacking the party and the government, though
it did not give any specifics.
The state-run Huashang website
last week, citing local authorities, reported that the group is urging
followers to "exterminate the great red dragon" — a reference to the
Communist Party — "and found a country under the rule of Almighty God."
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