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Two missionaries suffer harassment in Myanmar

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Last month, two Christian missionaries were harassed by a group of local individuals in a village in Myanmar. The two women were evangelising in the village when the hostile men attacked them. Weeks later the women are still in a state of shock.

Mai Yi* and Chew* are the two missionary women who were victims of religious persecution. The tragedy happened in a village in the northern part of Myanmar. The women had gone to the small Buddhist majority village to visit five Christian families.

 

Assaulted  by the villagers

On the 8th of July, the missionaries were at home when some local people went to their house and demanded that they leave the village. The enraged locals shouted at the missionaries and refused to leave them alone until they vacated the house. When Mai Yi and Chew did try to leave, the locals descended upon them, hitting and wounding them. The assailants also confiscated the women’s phones to prevent them calling for help.

 

Taken to the police station with the pastor and his wife

When the villagers were gone, the police arrived and took the missionaries and the local pastor, U Min with his wife to the police station. Police summoned the local pastor and his wife because they were the primary contacts for the two women. The police tried to force the pastor and his wife to sign a document that would prohibit them from welcoming missionaries into the village. The couple refused to sign and left the police station with Mai Yi and Chew. The following day, the villagers returned to the house of the Christian women and started to fling stones at the windows.

 

The pressure of the Buddhist surroundings

Myanmar occupies the  24th place on the World Watch List for the  Persecution of Christians. There are about 4.3 million people who believe in Christ in this country; the majority of them belong to the Chin and Kachin ethnical groups. They are actively persecuted, have to endure pressure from  Buddhist neighbourhoods and must put up with the government’s lack of concern for their well-being.

Source: PortesOuvertes

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