ST PETERSBURG, Russia, Mar. 01, 1999 -- (Reuters) In the latest confrontation between Russia's security forces and evangelical religious groups, police and schoolchildren refused on Friday to back down in the occupation of a St Petersburg school.

Since Monday dozens of pupils and some parents and teachers have occupied the school, operated by a Dutch evangelical group in a former army barracks in the center of Russia's second city, while two busloads of armed police stand vigil outside.

Police said on Friday they were prepared to maintain their blockade for two more weeks, when a court order obliging the school to move comes into effect. The city says it has revoked a 1991 rent-free lease it gave to the Dutch Open Christian Society, which runs the school. The school's supporters say they are entitled to remain.

Andrei Bolkashov, 39, a parent who has been inside the school with his two children since Monday, said a court ruling taking effect after March 11 would oblige the school to move, but parents have already prepared an appeal to block the order. A police officer at the scene who asked not to be named told Reuters: "We will be here until March 12." Asked if they would then storm the building, he said: "Yes."

Attempts to clear the school have failed. Bolkashov said police had forced their way into the building on Tuesday, but the children and adults lay on the floor singing religious songs for three hours until the officers left. Other adults reached by telephone inside the building have said the children have been able to sneak in and out through windows, are in good spirits and have plenty of food.

"For us it is like a holiday. Such unity and spirit in front of God. We are reading from the Bible," said the school's director, Inga Ivanova, late on Thursday. She said the children were occasionally offering tea to the police outside. "It is terrible, police against children," said Larisa Shubina, a parent maintaining a vigil outside the building. "My child is also inside. If the children go away, the police will carry off the adults. But we want our children to study in a Christian school. We have nowhere to retreat to."

In a press release on Thursday, the city said the school had violated the terms of the building's lease and was enlisting the support of international organizations by spreading inaccurate information in a publicity campaign.

Evangelical Christians and other religious groups have experienced a revival in Russia since the fall of Soviet Communism brought an end to 70 years of official atheism. But both the secular authorities and Russia's own 1,000-year-old Orthodox Christian Church have often expressed skepticism towards less conventional religious movements.

A controversial law which went into effect in 1997 restricts the activities of "non-traditional" faiths. Moscow prosecutors are presently seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses in a court case that is being monitored closely by international human rights groups. On Thursday Russian police raided Moscow offices of the Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology. ( (c) 1999 Reuters)

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Last updated Mon Mar 1 11:04:53 1999 GMT.

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