Screen grab of footage of the demolition of Golden Lampstand Church in Linfen city in northern Shanxi Province, Jan. 9, 2018.

BEIJING: Chinese authorities have torn down "two or three" crosses adorning Christian churches in one county because they were "illegally built", state media quoted an official as saying yesterday. The officially atheist ruling Communist Party has tightened restrictions and oversight of religious practice in China under President Xi Jinping, carrying out a controversial cross demolition campaign in east China's Zhejiang province.

The central government had also approved "two or three" crosses of churches in Yichuan county, in central Henan province, to be torn down, a religious affairs official surnamed Zhang said, according to the state-run Global Times newspaper. "The parishes were illegally built without permission from the government, so we demolished their crosses," the paper reported Zhang as saying. "Activities in the illegally built parishes will be prohibited." Zhang denied the removals targeted Christianity, and the report did not specify the denominations of churches that were impacted. - Reuters