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Fiji self-proclaimed Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama - Source: ONE News -
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Fiji's military regime has reportedly seized top members of the Methodist Church.
Soldiers attempted to arrest 80-year-old former head of the church, Reverend Josateki Koroi, but he refused to go with them, Fairfax Media is reporting.
Koroi said he was told by soldiers that other members of the church's ministry were being held at the barracks. He did not know who exactly had been detained.
It comes as the Fiji Government ordered the cancellation of the church's annual conference which was to be held today.
ONE News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver said it was a worrying development.
"They [the military] said they could have one [a conference] this year, but they couldn't discuss anything political," Dreaver told TV ONE's Breakfast programme .
"They also had to get rid of some of their top people, like the president.
"I don't think they could come to an agreement, so, in effect, this Methodist conference from what I understand is actually being cancelled for today."
Fijian army officer Lt Colonel Neumi Leweni told the Fijilive website the conference was cancelled because church officials were not abiding by permit conditions.
The church has been forced by the military to cancel its last three annual conferences.
Dreaver said the church, which has been highly critical of Fiji's military regime, has always been quite political and powerful.
Thirty-seven percent of Fiji's population identify themselves as being Methodist.
"Straight after he took over the country [Frank Bainimarama] in his military coup, they [the church] put out a statement saying that he should remove himself immediately as Prime Minister and him and his cabinet should be replaced with reliable, honest people," Dreaver said.
"So that drove him into a frenzy of rage. So you can imagine they're not his best friends."
A similar crackdown last week saw a Hindu religious event celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna cancelled. Organisers were told they could not hold the event without a permit.
Dreaver said unions are also being targeted.
"Many [union leaders] have been taken up to a military camp and beaten. That continues to this day," Dreaver said.
"They had a meeting with the ILO, the International Labour Organisation last week. Straight after that they got told that they couldn't have their trade congress meeting because they didn't have a permit."
Dreaver said while New Zealand has been "pretty tough" on Fiji by enforcing travel bans, "it's not fixing the situation".
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