RUSSIANS DEFEND CHURCH
LONG BATTLE WITH POLICE. SOVIET OFFICERS THRASHED. After three days of battle the O.G.P.U. (Russian secret police) arrested the orthodox priest Kolcroff and 17 believers at Kimry, 80 miles from Moscow.
The Soviet had decreed a closure of the church in order to convert the building into a leather-workers ’ club, but when officials appeared in order to carry out the formal confiscation they found the doors barred and locked by 30 locks. They attempted to force the doors but believers, armed with sticks, beat them off. According to an official Soviet account U‘ crowd of 2000 gathered round the church and routed the local police. The chairman of the local Soviet appeared with a bodyguard of Sojviet officers but they were all captured and thrashed. Police reinforcements drafted in met a similar fate. Further drafts came in until resistance was overcome, but it took three days to do it.
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Bibliographic details
Patea Mail, Volume L, 31 July 1929, Page 2
Word Count
152RUSSIANS DEFEND CHURCH Patea Mail, Volume L, 31 July 1929, Page 2
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