E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSBEIJING -- China has launched a crackdown on a religious group it says is a cult that has called for a "decisive battle" to slay the "Big Red Dragon" of the Communist Party and spread doomsday rumors, state media said Friday.
In recent weeks, hundreds of members of the "Almighty God" group have clashed with police, sometimes outside government buildings, in central Henan, northern Shaanxi and southwestern Gansu provinces, according to photos on popular microblogs.
The group has "incited followers to launch a decisive battle with the 'Big Red Dragon' to make the 'Red Dragon' extinct and to establish the reign of the kingdom of the 'Almighty God,'" the provincial Shaanxi Daily said on its website.
It added that the sect's followers have been distributing leaflets saying that the world will end in 2012.
Sect leaders executed
China's Communist Party brooks no challenge to its rule and is obsessed with social stability.
It has particularly taken aim at groups it considers to be cults, which have multiplied across the country in recent years.
More China coverage from NBC's Behind the Wall
Demonstrations have been put down with force and some sect leaders executed.
"The State Bureau of Religious Affairs has already documented the group's cult nature, has outlawed it and is presently harshly cracking down," the Shaanxi Daily said.
It did not say how many followers the sect had.
Calif. Falun Gong members say they're targets of assaults, hate crimes
The State Bureau of Religious Affairs did not answer repeated calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Former President Jiang Zemin launched a campaign in 1999 to crush the Falun Gong religious group, banning it as an "evil cult."
This happened after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing to demand official recognition of their movement.
More world stories from NBC News:
- ANALYSIS: Egypt's military keeps close eye on politics
- EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice drops out of running for secretary of state
- North Korean progress on nuclear arms, long-range missiles rattle U.S. and allies
- 'Who is my Mandela?' South Africans consider icon's place in a changing world
- Google+ Hangout from Egypt with NBC News' Ayman Mohyeldin
- Royal prank call: Duped nurse was found hanging, also had wrist injuries
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
For ONCE agree with China. Take em down.
Yes. Does Homeland Security have a Department of Religiuos Affairs?
Consider 4 out of 10 Americans think the recent storm are the sign of "end times", then it must be something wrong...
Why do the ChiComs hate anything they dont understand?
Fact is, they nailed this one!
Sounds like another subgroup of al-Qaida!
The Chinese Communist Party is only afraid of anything or anyone that may stand half a chance of removing them from power, and lately, with all the corruption and graft scandals among the leadership of the Communist Party, they are already treading on thin ice. A massive demonstration by the Chinese people against the party members might topple them from power, and that is why they hate everything they don't understand or can't control.
Maybe it isn't so bad in our eurochristian heterosexual west huh?
Guys must see this.
Guys must see this. 2012 Movie
It is sure no fun to be the Red Dragon these days. Too many people are after red dragons. Be afraid, very afraid, CCP, if you want to survive 2012.