Russian Police Raid Christian School

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (MCNS) -- Police forcibly removed about 35 adults and children from a school run by the Dutch religious organization, Society for Open Christianity on March 10, the "Moscow Times" reported.

Students and school authorities had locked themselves into the school to protest a court order evicting them from the premises. Police arrived in 12 cars and eight vans and shut down the block surrounding the school in Nevsky Prospect before entering the building.

School administrator Inga Ivanov has been hospitalized and another woman reportedly suffered a heart attack during the raid. All of the children have been released to the custody of their parents.

The raid came one day before a local court was to rule on an appeal of an arbitration court's decision to return the building to the governement.

A police spokesman told the newspaper that the situation has to be resolved quickly because the building represents a fire hazard. According to the newspaper, it "remains unclear to what degree the dispute rested on the lease agreement for an attractive downtown property."

School officials maintain that the real issue is the school's unusual religious status. Earlier St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev warned city officials to "look carefully into all the religious schools and what they teach" because "we already have enough 'zombified' children."