China arrests 1,000 doomsday 'cult' members

China has arrested nearly 1,000 people in a crackdown on a Christian sect that spread doomsday rumours and targeted communist rule, state media said on Thursday ahead of the supposedly Mayan-foretold apocalypse.

The Christian-inspired group “Almighty God” has been accused of spreading doomsday rumours apparently linked to the ancient Mayan Long Count calendar and urging followers to slay the “red dragon” of communism, state media reports said.

Close to 1,000 followers of the sect, which state-run media labels an “evil cult” – the same description it applies to the banned Falun Gong group – have been held in a nationwide crackdown that began last week, state-run CCTV reported.

Police detained more than 350 Almighty God members in the southwestern province of Guizhou, while in the northwestern province of Qinghai more than 400 were held for “gathering unlawfully”, the reported.

Smaller numbers have been held in other areas across the country.

Almighty God predicts that three days of darkness will begin on Friday, and has called on its members to overthrow China’s ruling Communist Party, which it refers to as “the big red dragon”, the state-run reported.

It has also told believers that a new era presided over by a “female Jesus” has arrived and that tsunamis and earthquakes will rock the world, the Global Times said.