Members of Taiwan's New Testament Church yesterday protested against Japanese police beating and detaining its members while they were preaching the gospel in Hokkaido, north Japan.
The incident occurred in Sapporo, capital city of Hokkaido, Saturday evening as a 50-member New Testament Church mission was preaching, church spokesman Lee Ming-wei said.
"Japanese riot police surrounded the two coaches in which the church members were travelling, demanding to check their passports," Lee said.
"When they refused to submit passports, police forcibly boarded the coaches and dragged about 20 members to the Sapporo police station, beating them on the way and at the police station," Lee said.
Sapporo police released all but two female church members Sunday morning when Japanese reporters started arriving at the scene.
But as of Monday afternoon, the two female church members were still being detained because they refused to submit their passports or answer questions.
"We strongly protest the detention because Japan, which claims to be a democratic country, should allow us to spread God's word," Lee said.
The group consists of New Testament Church members from Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia and the US. They arrived in Tokyo on Aug. 22.
They rode in two coaches from Tokyo to Sapporo, pitching camps on the way and preaching to locals by distributing posters and singing and dancing in praise of the Lord.
They shouted "Accept Jesus because the big tribulation is coming," Lee said.
Japanese police had followed the team all the way from Tokyo, monitoring its every movement.
New Testament Church has aroused controversy at home and abroad because it claims it alone is the "pure faith" church. It calls its founder, Hong Kong film actress Kong Duan-yee, and its Taiwan leader Hong San-chi, "prophets of all nations."
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