Burma: CSW condemns crackdown on churches in Rangoon

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Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has received reports of a serious crackdown on churches in Rangoon, the former capital of Burma.

According to the news agency Mizzima, local authorities in Rangoon have ordered at least 100 churches to stop holding worship services.
Mizzima also reports that the order could affect as many as 80 per cent of churches in the city, and that 50 pastors were forced to sign at least five documents promising to cease church services.
The pastors were reportedly warned they could be jailed if they disobeyed the order.

The campaign appears to be particularly targeted at churches meeting in apartment buildings, rather than churches that own their own building and land.
According to a report by the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), officials from the local branch of the Ministry of Religious Affairs summoned the owners of buildings in which churches were meeting, and issued them with an order prohibiting the use of private property for religious purposes.