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| A Christian woman sits in mud after officials attacked her for attending an outdoor church service in this undated photo. (Photo: ChinaAid) |
ChinaAid
(Shenzhen—Dec. 8, 2018) Police falsely charged multiple Shenzhen Christians with “attacking police” on the afternoon of Nov. 20 after the officers initiated the conflict and faked being injured in order to substantiate their claims.
One of the arrested Christians said nine police officers tailed them as they were returning from preaching in a square, which they had traveled from Shenzhen to Luohe, Henan to do. The authorities eventually pulled them over, inspected their car, and wrote down each person’s ID card and driver’s license information. Only one of the officers showed them official identification, seven of them were not in uniform, and some of them smelled like alcohol.
The cops hit the Christians, and one pretended to fall on the ground to create an opportunity to accuse them of “attacking police.” As a result, all four of them were taken to the Tianqiao Police Station, handcuffed with their hands behind their backs, beaten viciously, and assaulted with pepper spray as the officers recorded them, asking that they confess their guilt. The Christians refused.
According to one of the Christians, “A few cops stood around me, insulting me verbally. They sprayed pepper spray at me and even yelled that they would beat me using the electric baton.”
One of the officers was quoted as saying, “I will let you suffer. You will regret coming to Luohe.”
Some of the station’s personnel relentlessly scolded the Christians, saying they were psychopaths and that “God does not exist. Ask Jesus to rescue you. Ask your Lord to help you. Ask him to cure the pain in your eyes [from the pepper spray].”
After this, the Christians were sent to a detention center on obstruction charges, but they took advantage of the opportunity to share their faith with others there, and many of the police on duty became Christian.
One of the imprisoned Christians told another, “If you are released, and I am continuously detained or lose my life, don’t pay me heed; do not care. Continue preaching the Gospel. Continue doing the work of the Kingdom of God. Just think of me myself as being no longer here. Maybe God will use this event to shake awake many Christians. If the sacrifice of my freedom and life alone is enough to bring about Henan’s triumph [over the Communist Party] and freedom and the church’s freedom, then why should we not permit it?”
When the Luohe police released the Christians on the morning of Nov. 29, the station’s director said, “You can preach, but aren’t there churches [to preach in]? I don’t care where you preach in the future, but it is better if it is not in my jurisdiction.”
ChinaAid exposes abuses, such as those suffered by the Christians from Shenzhen, in order to stand in solidarity with the persecuted and promote religious freedom, human rights, and rule of law.
ChinaAid Media Team
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