Minister and members of the SDA church in Mariupol beaten by a gang in tracksuits during choir rehearsal on Friday
Parishioners of a prayer house of one of the Protestant churches in Mariupol, Ukraine, were beaten by a group of hooligans during an evening worship service. The incident occurred on Friday, September 7, 2012. The press service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ukraine reported this to the Christian Megaportal invictory.org.
Three ministers of the Adventist church received various bodily injuries. The police detained three of the attackers, out of a group numbering about 12 people.
“The incident began when about 30 members of the officially registered Seventh-day Adventist community in Mariupol were holding a choir rehearsal in the building at 28 Nikolaevskaya Street, which belongs to the church under collective ownership rights,” the press release states. “The rehearsal was interrupted by knocking on the window, threats, and insults against human dignity. The hooligans, wearing tracksuits and showing signs of alcohol intoxication, started to pick on the Adventists for not smoking and for having bought the formerly empty kindergarten building. Then their accomplices, who had been waiting outside, joined the troublemakers. Six hooligans broke into the territory of the prayer house and began beating the believers in the courtyard and in the foyer of the building. The rest of the group remained outside the gate, preventing the parishioners from going out into the street.”
The police, called by the community pastor, arrived within half an hour. During that time, the hooligans beat the pastor, the senior deacon, and the elder.
“Despite the provocations, the Adventists did not resort to violence to defend themselves,” the press service clarifies.
The police unit that arrived at the scene detained only three of the attackers. The Zhovtneve District Police Department of Mariupol accepted a complaint from the victims about hooligan actions and bodily injuries.
After the police unit left, one of the hooligans who had not been arrested began threatening the believers, demanding that within a week they prepare mobile phones and money as a ‘fine’ for calling the police.
According to the press service, the former kindergarten building at 28 Nikolaevskaya Street was purchased by the Mariupol Seventh-day Adventists in 1999, after it was put up for auction by the Mariupol Universal Commodity Exchange.
“The Mariupol Adventists have repeatedly held social and charitable events, including distributing clothing to the poor, providing humanitarian aid to disabled children, orphans, and children from low-income families, Easter concerts in the women’s correctional colony, and programs for those wanting to quit smoking. These actions have drawn a positive response from many citizens. This year, the Mariupol Adventists will mark the 100th anniversary of the formation of their community in this city,” the press release states.
It should be recalled that earlier Orthodox believers near Sevastopol destroyed the Adventists’ tent during a religious procession. The community later apologized for that incident.
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