ICC Note: In yet another chapter involving the escalating persecution of the Nanle County Christian Church in Henan Province, lawyers for the church found themselves being mobbed by gov’t “rent-a-thugs” last Friday. Three British reporters writing a story on the church were also attacked and forced to flee to a nearby building where they barricaded themselves in. Eventually the reporters were escorted out of the area by police and told to leave. The attack is the latest episode in a story which drew international attention after Pastor Zhang Shaojie and 23 of his church members were detained by police in November. The arrest was all the more shocking because the church is a legal, government sponsored “Three-Self Church” 
12/13/2013 China (ChinaAid) – Defense attorneys for the detained Nanle County Christian Church members were surrounded and beaten around mid-morning on Friday by an unidentified group, who later turned their attention to three British reporters.
As decided after the beginning of a hunger strike yesterday attorneys from the Delegation of Lawyers for the Nanle Religious Case, as they are now officially calling their delegation , made their way to the Nanle County Procuratorate early this morning to accuse the local police of nonfeasance and illegally disturbing and sabotaging the lawyers’ right to practice law.
When the group began going through the appropriate procedures to sue the police, three journalists from the U.K.’s Sky News arrived to cover the story. After their arrival, the reporters began interviewing Zhang Shanshan, the daughter of detained Nanle County Christian Church pastor Zhang Shaojie, and Xia Jun, the head defense lawyer for the case.
As the reporters were interviewing the Zhang Shanshan and Xia, a group, described as “several hundred ordinary people,” arrived at the procuratorate on buses. The group surrounded the lawyers, began beating them and yanked their cellphones away. They similarly surrounded and beat the British reporters, even managing to take the crews camera, Sky News correspondant Mark Stone told the Associated Press in a news story published earlier today.
Xia and two other lawyers attempted to escort the reporters from the building, but were forced to take cover in a nearby office. Once in the office, the group used furniture to barricade the door. Xia reported that soon after, dozens of women began knocking on the door, saying they only wanted the reporters.
Xia called the police, but after an hour, no police had arrived to help the lawyers and the reporters. The group stayed in the office for hours until, according to the Associated Press report, a government official arrived to escort the group from the procuratorate.
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