Special police forces and heavy machinery have surrounded a church in Zhejiang Province, China, prompting fears the building could be damaged or have its cross removed.
Scaffolding around the roof and cross at Yayang Church have been shared on social media by Bob Fu, founder of watchdog and human rights advocacy group China Aid.
Update on Yayang Church:
— Bob Fu 傅希秋 (@BobFu4China) January 6, 2026
Part of the church building is being destroyed forcefully by the CCP govt on January 6. pic.twitter.com/wnduGjespA
The development follows the arrest or dispersal of 200 people connected to the church by local police in December, for which authorities provided no explanation.
Security forces encircled the church in the town of Yayang, setting up security cordons and ordering those nearby not to film or take pictures.
Several residents around the church were ordered to leave.
Large engineering equipment, including cranes and bulldozers, have been seen outside the church.
During the crackdown in December, local authorities took two church leaders into custody. Wanted notices called them “principal suspects of a criminal organisation” suspected of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
No specific illegal acts were specified, though, according to Christian China Aid.
Chinese authorities heavily surveil Christian activities, targeting unregistered churches.
Dozens of house pastors belonging to the Zion Church, an underground house church, were arrested in October.
Benedict Rogers, Senior Director of Fortify Rights and co-founder and Chair of Hong Kong Watch, told Premier Christian News incidents like these are becoming “increasingly common”.
“The Chinese Communist Party is an avowedly atheist party. It dislikes religion, it dislikes any belief that it feels is a rival to its power, and it wants total control over its people,” he said.
China Aid said in a statement: “This series of actions highlights the tensions between local governance and religious activities.
“In Yayang Town, church members and residents are closely monitoring developments, worried that further enforcement actions could have far-reaching effects on local Christian life.”