Chinese police arrested dozens of Christians when they moved to prevent a Protestant church from holding its Easter Sunday service.
The arrests form part of a continued crack-down on protesters against one-party rule, and this church in particular has a history of conflict with the government. The arrests were made after the church defied a governmental order denying them permission to worship in a public building.
Worshippers from the church were bussed away while still singing hymns, while church leaders promised to continue the protests.
"The devil Satan has taken advantage of the authority God has granted to the national government and is seeking to destroy God's church," wrote Pastor Jin Tianming. "His devil's claws have finally been revealed. Satan get thee behind me!"
"Between 20 and 30 followers were taken away," said Pastor Jin in a telephone interview from his home, where he has been under house arrest for the past fortnight.
Christians are not allowed to worship in China unless they register with the state-approved churches, but millions of Christians refuse to submit to this level of government control so they are forced to worship underground.
It is estimated that around 40 million Christians currently worship underground, while others claim the figures could be as high as 80 million. The church that endured the Easter arrests is known as Shouwang church and has around 1,500 members.
Human rights groups warn that this form of repression will only serve to raise support for the Christians.
"The Chinese government are playing a very dangerous game," said Mark Shan, a spokesman for ChinaAid, a US-based Christian rights group. "They are pushing the church into a corner and other Christians, when they see how Shouwang have been treated, may react in the same defiant way."