Mainland officials arrest 93 for spreading 'doomsday' rumours

Mainland authorities detained at least 93 people for spreading rumours of an impending apocalypse, most of them members of what officials long branded as a cult, Xinhua reported yesterday.

The Church of Almighty God, known as the Eastern Lightning, warned that the sun would not shine and electricity would not work for three days starting on December 21, the so-called Mayan doomsday, Xinhua reported.

Earlier reports said dozens of Eastern Lightning followers were detained in Qinghai province, northeast of Tibet, while 34 were arrested in the eastern city of Jinjiang in Fujian province .

Four of the sect's members were also arrested in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for allegedly duping elderly people into believing that only by accepting the "Almighty God" would they survive the end of the world, the report said. The authorities also seized a large number of banners, discs, slogans, books and printing machines from the suspects.

Police in Mianyang city, Sichuan province, took 17 people into custody for spreading rumours about doomsday in residential areas and other public places, the Chengdu Economic Daily reported.

In Wuhan , Hubei province, five migrant workers were arrested for disrupting social order when they handed out pamphlets about doomsday.