BEIJING The Chinese authorities have killed 129 people and arrested nearly 24,000 in a crackdown on Christian churches that operate outside government control, a group of Chinese campaigners for religious freedom has charged. In a report issued in New York on Monday, the Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China published what it said were official documents outlining a campaign to stamp out independent worship. The report accused senior Chinese leaders of approving the violence.
The accusations, from a committee irun by Chinese Christians living abroad, come at a sensitive time for China, a week before President George W. Bush makes his first official visit to Beijing. A Hong Kong businessman imprisoned for smuggling Bibles to a banned church was released last weekend after Bush expressed concern about him.
China allows only state-monitored worship. It is struggling to rein in new religious movements that have attracted millions of followers in recent years.
The most prominent target has been the Falun Gong spiritual movement, banned in 1999 as a threat to public safety and Communist rule. But other targeted groups span the spectrum from Roman Catholics to Buddhists to newer organizations with unorthodox views.
‘‘The level of persecution aimed against unregistered Christians in China is high,’’ said the report. ‘‘The persecution against underground Christians has escalated and originates at the highest central levels of the Chinese government.’’ Westerners still in detention
China kept a Canadian citizen, Jason Loftus, and an American, Levi Browde, both followers of the Falun Gong, in custody Tuesday, a day after they were arrested in Tiananmen Square for protesting against the government’s crackdown on the spiritual movement, Reuters reported from Beijing.