Ethiopia: Church attacked by mob and closed down

Ethiopia | 04 September 2017

According to World Watch Monitor reporting on 11 August 2017, an Ethiopian Pentecostal church located in Tikil Dingaye, 20km from a city of Gondar in Amhara State, was attacked on 11 June 2017 by a mob of youths believed to be members of an ultra-conservative Ethiopian Orthodox Church association called Mahibere Kidusan. The attackers reportedly stole money and injured at least one church member. Instead of offering protection, the authorities ordered the closure of the church which is operating in a house in a residential area because application for purchasing land for church construction was denied. A member of the church was also arrested for allegedly "inciting religious clashes through illegal activities". Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "In rural Ethiopia there has been ongoing violence perpetrated against Protestant and similar Christian groups, and the attacks often go unreported or are at least underreported. This is particularly true in areas dominated by Ethiopian Orthodox Church. In these areas, it is not surprising to see members of the police force and ultra-conservative Ethiopian Orthodox Church working together against members of non-Orthodox churches. The organization Mahibere Kidusan is behind many publications and audio-video productions aiming to warn against Protestants. This attack in Tikil Dingaye is just one example of the sort of persecution that some Pentecostal and Evangelical churches in rural Ethiopia have to put up with in their daily lives: It cannot be presumed an incident like this just happened off-the-cuff."