500 detained in China over doomsday rumors

Posted on Tuesday, 18 December, 2012 | Comment icon

Image credit: NASA

Police in China have detained several hundred individuals for spreading rumors about the end of the world.

The arrests were carried out across eight provinces and included several members of a fringe Christian group called 'Almighty God'. Authorities seized leaflets, books and DVDs designed to promote the idea that the world is coming to an end on December 21st.

Among those arrested were four doom-sayers who had been preaching through a loudspeaker to people in the streets. Thirty-seven members of the 'Amighty God' group were also picked up in northwest China's Qinghai province while four more were detained in the Inner Mongolia region on suspicion of swindling elderly people living in some of the country's remote mountainous areas.

Update: The number of arrests have risen to include over 400 members of the 'Amighty God' group. A disciple of a suspected doomsday cult has also been arrested following a knife attack on more than 20 children.

Chinese police have arrested more than 500 members of a doomsday cult for spreading rumours about the imminent end of the world, state media say.

View: Full article |

Source: BBC News

Discuss: View comments (29)

<< Previous story
Police officer reports UFO sighting

Next story >>
Pensioner plagued by Christmas carols

Recent comments on this story

#20 Posted by libstaK on 19 December, 2012, 10:59

Thankfully none of the children in this incident died, they would be traumatised at being attacked by a man with a knife though and that is awful.

#21 Posted by dmgspycat on 19 December, 2012, 13:40

Christians have been looking for this stupid doomsday to happen just to prove their religion. How petty to get it wrong so many thousands of years so by chance when a calamity does happen, they can feel justified in their beliefs. Unbelievable...

#22 Posted by teetay08 on 19 December, 2012, 17:00

- like foreal were not goin anywhere .. nobody know when when dying/when the world will be ending ... read the book of relvalations DUHH !

#23 Posted by pallidin on 19 December, 2012, 17:45

Welcome to the forums ImJustMe. Love those lips.

#24 Posted by freetoroam on 19 December, 2012, 17:59

Shows how much the World has changed, you would never had heard about this a few years back.

#25 Posted by minera on 19 December, 2012, 18:26

geez. Weirdos are all over the place even in China. If doomsday does not happen we should all sue the fear mongers for false advertising. I wish it was Friday already as I am sick of all this doom and gloom everywhere scaring the masses with stupid shows about the end of the world and all the propaganda about it. It is everywhere.

#26 Posted by freetoroam on 19 December, 2012, 18:30

Sue them? not sure they will hang about to get caught once they have gathered up their "buy your doomsday safety helmet here" monies.

#27 Posted by Lava_Lady on 20 December, 2012, 0:34

Do you mean we wouldn't have heard about the Doomsday Cults or the government round-ups of dissidents? Depending on how far back you mean, I know for sure that the cults have made headlines as far back as religion started. Seems like one cult or another has been in the news every year talking about "the end is nigh". Thankfully most have been harmless for the most part but not the likes of Jim Jones, that tennis shoes guy, and David Koresh just to name a few. Governments around the world, throughout history have done round-ups of peoples they deemed "dissidents" ... [More]

#28 Posted by GirlfromOz on 20 December, 2012, 14:59

It's all good! The earth will still be orbitting the sun & we will all wake up to the same old routine!

#29 Posted by GirlfromOz on 20 December, 2012, 15:35

See you all on Saturday the 22nd! LOL!

View all 29 comments on this story

Please Login or Register to post a comment.

Forum topics in this category

Modern Mysteries, New Age & Prophecies

Strange disappearances in national parks

Are Ata '6-Inch Alien' and Atta Boy, related?

Bringing back all your dead ancestors?

Afghan U.S Cargo Plane Mystery Solved :Video

Noetic Sciences

Lights of the world: Do you have one?

Time traveler

Smelly Foam Oozes Through Cracks in Streets

Spiral Dynamics: What is beyond Turquoise?

If every human that existed jumped at once

Crop circles are not the work of hoaxers

Increase In Population

Mathematical Proof of the Existence of Satan

Other recent forum topics

Middle-East

Putin's Final Answer = Missiles to Syria

Is Israel an Apartheid state?

Assad: Israelis Helping Terrorists

Dreams & Consciousness

Visions, Insight, Pre&Post Cognition, Feeling

Was i hallucinating?

Astral Projection FAQs & Techniques Thread

UK and Europe

Religion Of Peace?

''too attractive to work''

Rule Britannia for global crimes

View: Discussion forum

Other news in this category

Mystery aircraft causes stir in Quincy

Posted 5-12-2013 | 247 comments
Residents have been reporting aircraft doing loops over the city all night, every night for two weeks....

How will humans become extinct ?

Posted 4-24-2013 | 65 comments
If we were to become extinct in the forseeable future, how exactly would such an event come about ?...

How close is doomsday ?

Posted 4-8-2013 | 55 comments
With all the talk of the cataclysm lately, is there a way to determine when the world will really end ?...

Is Boudicca buried underneath a car park ?

Posted 4-1-2013 | 16 comments
The warrior queen's final resting place is unknown, but archaeologists are confident they can find it....

'Fairy circles' mystery solved

Posted 3-30-2013 | 17 comments
Mysterious grassless rings appearing in the South African desert are believed to be made by termites....

Woman 'dies' for 45 minutes

Posted 3-27-2013 | 22 comments
A woman whose heart stopped for a full 45 minutes stunned doctors by going on to make a full recovery....

Mystery over seal pup found in a forest

Posted 3-25-2013 | 15 comments
Authorities in Sweden have been left confused after a seal pup was discovered in the middle of a forest....

Dead prawns litter Chile coastline

Posted 3-21-2013 | 22 comments
Authorities have been left baffled by thousands of dead prawns that have washed up in Chile....

Hindenburg mystery solved after 76 years ?

Posted 3-5-2013 | 26 comments
Scientists believe they have explained what caused the Hindenburg to explode back in May 1937....

Mystery light forms circle of fire

Posted 3-3-2013 | 31 comments
Authorities in Australia have been left baffled following the formation of a mysterious circle of fire....

Missing plane raises Bermuda Triangle fears

Posted 2-22-2013 | 34 comments
The plane carrying Vittorio Missoni and five others disappeared without a trace last month....

Is the human race losing intelligence ?

Posted 2-21-2013 | 191 comments
Some experts believe that we are becoming less intelligent and losing some cognitive capabilities....

Man killed by spontaneous combustion ?

Posted 2-20-2013 | 32 comments
Officials are puzzled over the mysterious incineration of a 66-year-old man in Sequoyah County....

Strange 'slime' baffles experts

Posted 2-19-2013 | 21 comments
A mysterious jelly-like substance has been turning up all over an RSPB nature reserve in Somerset....

View: More news in this category