Via TPD, something that is reminiscent of El Salvador in the 1980s. Wapo reports that thugs in Xian have managed to combine China’s abuse of Christians with China’s abuse of property rights protesters:

At least five Catholic nuns resisting a government plan to sell land claimed by their church to a real estate developer are hospitalized in the Chinese city of Xian after thugs armed with sticks and clubs assaulted them, a witness and others familiar with the incident said Thursday.

One of the nuns, identified as Cheng Jing, 34, was blinded in the attack and has recovered the use of only one eye, and another nun was scheduled for surgery on her spine, according to people who have visited them. A third was recovering with a broken arm, and two others incurred serious head injuries.

The attack occurred on the night of Nov. 23 on a parcel of disputed land in downtown Xian adjacent to the city’s main state-sanctioned Catholic church, the Southern Cathedral. About 30 to 40 nuns were trying to stop workers from demolishing an elementary school there when the thugs began beating them, injuring at least 16, the sources said.

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