Chinese police raided a Sunday worship service of the Early Rain Covenant Church, a banned Protestant church in the southwestern city of Chengdu, and detained the pastor and three lay leaders, church-goers told Radio Free Asia.
Police are holding evangelistic preacher Li Yingqiang and three others under 14-day administrative detention, which can be used for perceived "troublemakers" without the need for a trial, following a raid by dozens of officers on the gathering of some 50 followers in Chengdu's Wuhou district.
Police from the local Hongpailou police station accused church members of "engaging in religious activities without permission," and ordered them to disperse, eyewitnesses told RFA Mandarin.
The Early Rain Covenant Church made global headlines in December 2018 when its premises were raided and forcibly shut down during police raids on Christmas Eve.
Since then it has been a banned church, but it has kept meeting despite tightened restrictions on religious groups in recent years under ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping.
Viewed as dangerous
In 2020, China was home to an estimated 72 million Christians, including Protestants and Catholics, according to Pew Research.
But Xi regards Christianity as a dangerous foreign import, with officials warning against the "infiltration of Western hostile forces" in the form of religion, and the authorities have engaged in a nationwide "sinicization" campaign to bring all religious groups under the control of the ruling party in recent years.
Many Protestant churches are part of the state-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association, but there are also many unauthorized “house churches” across the country, including Early Rain.
State security police and religious affairs bureau officials frequently raid the unofficial "house churches,” but member churches have also been targeted at times, particularly since Xi’s “sinicization” campaign began.
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Police on Sunday took away church elder Li Yingqiang, pastors Wu Wuqing and Li Youhong (also known as Yan Hong), and a deacon, Zeng Qingtao, a church member who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals told RFA Mandarin late on Monday.
The police stormed the venue at around 8:45 a.m. Sunday, breaking up the worship and corralling them inside the venue, before informing them that the gathering was "unauthorized," she said.
After the four church leaders were taken away, police then cut off the power supply to the venue and ordered the rest to leave, she said.
Wang said Zeng has requested clothes and medications for his chronic health problems to be sent to the detention center.
His family has meanwhile been told to hire a lawyer, she said.
Held in detention center
A church follower who gave only the surname Li for fear of reprisals said Li Yingqiang and the others were being held at the Chengdu Detention Center, with a scheduled release date of Sept. 16.
However, Chinese police have previously used shorter periods of administrative detention to bring criminal charges, later converting detainees' status to "criminal detention" without releasing them.
"Brother Li Yingqiang was preaching when the police stormed the meeting place and disrupted our worship," Li said. "Four brothers are in administrative detention for 14 days."
Wang said the families are also concerned that their loved ones will remain in detention past Sept. 16.
According to a copy of the Administrative Summons Notice sent to the families of the four detainees, Li and the others are being held on suspicion of "illegal activities under the guise of a social organization."
Repeated calls to the Hongpailou police station in Chengdu rang unanswered during office hours on Monday.
Pastor Wang Yi, who founded the Early Rain Covenant Church, was jailed for 9 years in December 2019 after a court found him guilty of "incitement to subvert state power." He remains in prison amid growing concerns for his health.
In 2021, church member Liao Qiang and five of his family members were granted political asylum in the United States after fleeing China via Thailand and waiting for resettlement in democratic Taiwan.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.