This last week or so the news has been dominated (rightly) by the Israeli – Palestine beef and the horrors of MH17. A story that might have slipped past your radar is this completely bizarre and terrifying tale from China. A couple of weeks back a woman was literally beaten to death by a cult in a branch of McDonald’s in Zhaoyuan, China. It appears that the violence started when one of the cult members asked the woman for her phone number and she refused. She was having none of it. So the cult group egged each other on until this young mother, Mrs Wu, was dead on the floor. The cult, called Quan Neng Shen which translates as All Powerful Spirit, are a doomsday cult. The group were outlawed for their violence back in the 90’s but seem to be making a reappearance. China’s officials are now renewing their crack down on cults across the board. As a communist country, religion is allowed but only as long as it keeps out-of-the-way and doesn’t interfere with the running of the country; scenes like this won’t be tolerated. The group of six cult members, some of which were from the same family, have since been arrested and now face charges. Perhaps the most shocking thing about the whole drama was that the McDonald’s branch was by no means deserted yet no one stepped up to help the woman as she was repeatedly slammed with an iron bar. In the background members of the public can be heard asking for the police to be called but that’s where the assistance ends. One of the reasons for this unwillingness to help isn’t the fear of the criminals themselves, paradoxically it’s a fear of the police. People are aware that the police are corrupt and can be bribed. If you are poor and find yourself in the foray and can’t afford to pay your way out of the trouble, you may well get sent down in the place of the actual criminal who can afford to make the bribe. And Chinese prisons are no walk in the park. A video of the incident and a bit more info on the cult are on the next page…