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On Palm
Sunday (April 5), a group of men broke into the
150-year-old Pepiliyana Methodist Church in Colombo
after congregants concluded an Easter procession.
”They removed everything, including valuable musical
instruments, a computer, Bibles, hymn books and all the
church records,” said the Rev. Surangika Fernando.
In another incident, anti-Christian mobs in Vakarai,
eastern Batticaloa district, intimidated church members
gathering for several worship services during Holy Week.
“What can we do?” pastor Kanagalingam Muraleetharan
told. “The authorities and the police say we have the
right to worship, but the reality is that people are
threatened.”
The Easter incidents are the latest in a long series of
attacks against churches and Christian individuals in
recent years, many of them instigated by Buddhist monks
who decry the growth of Christianity in the country.
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