A Dutch church has been running a 24-hour-a-day church service for the past month in an effort to stop an Armenian family from being deported.
Australia’s ABC reports Bethel Church in The Hague has been running the service since 26th October in a bid to prevention the deportation of the family of five based on a Dutch law which prohibits police from entering places of worship during religious services.
The family have reportedly lived in the Netherlands for almost nine years but, following a court decision rejecting their appeals to stay, they now face expulsion.
Axel Wicke, a priest at the Bethel church, tweeted that the family was “literally living in a protective house built by prayers and worship”.
He told the ABC that the family had fled Armenia after receiving death threats over political activism.
Rev Wicke also reportedly said he had been overwhelmed by the support received from around the world.
