Police raid students and family members of ERCC tutoring program

An example of Chinese police station (Xian).  (Photo: Michael Lusk/Flickr)

(Chengdu, Sichuan Province—April 22, 2021) On April 21, police raided students and family members participating in Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church’s (ERCC) tutoring program. Police transported 19 people (underaged students and Christian adults) to a police station to interrogate them.

At approximately 10 am, more than 10 police officers of Chengdu City Wenjiang District entered a residential compound, seizing four adult congregants of ERCC and 12 adolescents, studying at that time (most of the children of ERCC congregants were underaged) to Wenjiang District, Yongning Sub-district Police Station.

Parents of the adolescents phoned the police station multiple times, asking why police took their children, and when they would release them. The police officer, however, rudely responded without giving a clear answer; ignoring the basic protection for underaged children.

Police did not permit the 12 adolescents and four adults to leave the police station until around 9 pm. Officers continued to detain another three Christian brothers who live in the same condo without revealing the reason for their detention to family members.

The crackdown on ERCC began with a mass arrest on December 9, 2018, with Pastor Wang Yi sentenced to serve nine years in prison. The court sentenced Elder Qin Defu, also of ERCC, to a four-year prison sentence. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities closed the church building and confiscated church possessions. Police held several dozen people under administrative, criminal detention and long-term custody. They transported more than 100 people to the police station for interrogation.

Police continue to monitor many brothers and sisters, as well as routinely shut off their water and electricity. At times, they stuff door locks with toothpicks to prevent ERCC members from entering their own homes. Authorities regularly pressure employers to fire ERCC members and landlords to evict them. Police threaten parents trying to forces them to send their children to public schools.

Nevertheless, ERCC congregants continue to reject sending their children to public schools; refusing to subject them to the CCP’s brainwashing. During these trying times, many families have chosen to tutor their children together to provide a Christian education. In turn, police have repeatedly harassed them. Sometimes, police transported children to the police station when their parents were not home, attempting to secure updates about the church. Instead of succumbing to police pressure and tactics, these children who have grown up learning the Bible did not fear police. Instead, they shared the gospel with them. The children even debated evolution and creation with police officers, impressing them with their knowledge.

~ Yu Bing, ChinaAid Special Reporter