Chengdu: raid during an Early Rain Church celebration, four arrests
Those arrested include preacher Li Yingqiang and three other church members. The authorities have imposed 14-day administrative detention for the "troublemakers", but the measure is likely to turn into “criminal” charges without release. In Guangzhou, a 30-year-old Christian woman was arrested for developing a religiously themed music application.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese police raided the Early Rain Covenant Church, a Protestant community in the southwestern city of Chengdu already banned by the authorities, during Sunday celebration, arresting a preacher, two pastors and a deacon, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
The broadcaster spoke to some church members who said that preacher Li Yingqiang and the other three were placed in administrative detention for 14 days, a practice used to hold “troublemakers” without a trial.
At the time of the raid by dozens of agents, some 50 people were attending the service at the house church. Hongpailou police accuse church members of "engaging in religious activities without permission" and ordered them to disperse.
Raids by law enforcement and the Religious Affairs Bureau against house churches are commonplace, particularly since the start of President Xi Jinping "sinicisation" campaign.
On Sunday, agents took into custody the elder Li Yingqiang, together with Pastors Wu Wuqing, Li Youhong (also known as Yan Hong), and a deacon, Zeng Qingtao.
The police raided the venue around 8.45 am, interrupting worship and locking the faithful inside the church, before informing them that the gathering was "not authorised" and should be suspended.
After taking away the four members, the agents cut off the power supply to the venue and ordered the others to leave.
One follower, who only gave the surname Li for fear of reprisals, said Li Yingqiang and the others are being held at the Chengdu detention centre, and should be released on 16 September.
In the past, Chinese police have used administrative detention to file criminal charges, converting the status of detainees to that of "criminal detention" without releasing them.
The Early Rain Covenant Church made headlines in December 2018 when its premises were searched and forcibly closed on Christmas Eve.
Since then, the church has been banned, unrecognised by the government, but has continued to meet despite stricter restrictions on religious groups in recent years under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
Nevertheless, unlike many underground Protestant churches, the Early Rain Covenant Church practises its faith openly, posts sermons and studies online, evangelises on city streets, trains future pastors, and runs a primary school for 40 children. The community has about 500 members and 300 sympathisers.
One of the most controversial incidents involving the church dates back to 24 February 2019 when police arrested 44 people, including parents and 11 children (one was a two-month-old baby) because they had met in different houses to pray.
The community’s leader, Rev Wang Yi, has been in jail since 2018 purging a nine-year sentence in what is one of the most egregious violations of human rights and religious freedom by communist authorities. And he is not alone, several Protestant house church pastors are currently in prison.
Finally, a young Christian woman has been jailed for contributing to the development of a Christian App, called "Song of Songs".
Local sources cited by ChinaAid report that Xin Ruoyu (picture 2) was arrested on 23 August. The 30-year-old, who hails from Guangzhou, and her young son were taken into custody by police during a raid.
At present, she is being questioned in an extrajudicial “black room", but no information is available about any charges.
"Song of Songs" is a Gospel-centred app designed and developed specifically for Chinese-speaking Christians.
It offers hundreds of thousands of Chinese and foreign hymns and music videos, various versions of hymn books and sheet music, providing everything needed to pray with religiously themed music and songs.
It also features sermons from well-known pastors from around the world, offers Bible readings in multiple languages, and includes a hymn singing function.
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