Church property confiscated in Khartoum while people pray inside

The Sudanese police and special forces have seized the house of a pastor in Khartoum North on Wednesday. In the meantime, leaders from various churches in Khartoum, students, and other members are praying for 24 hours in the adjacent church building to stop further destruction.“The government destroyed the youth house, and now they are taking out all the furniture from the senior pastor’s office,” the source said Wednesday. “Today we were crying and praying for the situation, I think they are progressing toward the church itself. Today all the church members gathered in the church. They will sleep the night at a church in Khartoum Bahri [North] and tomorrow they will strike,” said the same source.The police accompanied investors to the church who claim to have leased its premises with a court order. The building belongs to one of the oldest established protestant churches in Khartoum, built halfway the last century. The police allowed the investors to take over the house to be destroyed.This is the second attack on the Evangelical church of Khartoum North this week. The investors, with help of the authorities, already took a large part of the compound in the centre of Khartoum North. Some of the pastors and church staff members were arrested when they tried to stop the investors.Most of the members of this Evangelical church are born and raised Sudanese, and do not come from South Sudan like other congregations. Since the independence of South Sudan in 2011, several catholic and protestant church buildings in Khartoum North and Omdurman have been destroyed, and the authorities or investors confiscated their compounds, under the protection of government forces.The investors taking the premises of the Evangelical church in Bahri claim their legal right is based on an agreement signed by church members. According to the church board, these individual members do not represent them, a youth leader told Radio Dabanga. Some of these church members are paid for signing such an agreement, he added.According to Pastor Yahya Abdelrahim Falo, police and security personnel were deployed around the property while church members gathered inside the church for praying. “The people will stay there, as it is church property,” he said.A photo of Christian women (below) protesting at the church shows a sign, saying “No to fear, no to surrender. The people of the church stand against investment.”News photo: Security forces and police at the church in Bahri with a pastor standing outside.UPDATE: See more photos below.