Attack on the Emmanuel Church in Aleksandrov

In the Vladimir region, two men armed with a knife broke into the Pentecostal church "Emmanuel", beat two parishioners and, threatening with a knife, demanded to give out lists of members of the community and promised to "extirpate all kinds of sectarians.

January 8, 2016 in Alexandrov, Vladimir region, two unknown, armed with a knife, broke into the building of the church of Christians of faith gospel (Pentecostal) "Emmanuel", when there were two parishioners and watchman.

The attackers hit one of the parishioners with a knife handle on head, the other - in the face, after which they put a knife to the throat of one of the young people and demanded to tell where the pastor was and to give out a list of parishioners. At the same time, the attackers shouted that they were “primordially Orthodox” and intended to “extirpate all kinds of sectarians,” insulted the believers, forced them to stand with raised hands and shouted out a fascist salute. After that, the attackers left promising to come to church again.

One of the victims required medical attention. He received several stitches at the emergency room. According to them, the attackers were in state of alcoholic intoxication.

Church officials view the incident as planned action by nationalists.

Sources

• Protestant church attacked in Alexandrov // Religion and law. 2016. January 12.