Authorities close a protestant church east of Algiers

Public authority orders the church of Makuda in Tizi Ouzou (east of Algiers) to stop its religious activity until obtaining legal license in accordance with the law in force, official sources told Echorouk.

Sources which reported the news said that police ordered the closure of the protestant church operating illegally in Makuda for almost 10 years, adding that policemen moved to Makuda Church on Saturday in order to give the notice of shutdown the church immediately, after a citizen rented his house with a symbolic price for Christians who turn it to a church where they exercise their religious rites although they did not possess a license.

Echorouk was told that an official in Makuda Church deposited here on Monday a demand for the local authorities to prepare a full file to meet the legal requirements for such religious activity.

Previously, Algerian authorities stopped activity of two protestant churches in Tizi Ouzou, east of Algiers, including Tafat church because it opened in a popular neighborhood illegally, and population asked authorities to close it fearing of the evangelization of their kids, as some of them destroy it and burn everything inside it.