(Chengdu, Sichuan Province) Unidentified individuals followed Chen Yan and her family on Christmas. The family attends Early Rain Covenant Church, and other Early Rain families report similar cases. ChinaAid sources also confirmed that elder Li Yingqiang returned home after his arrest on Christmas Eve.
Chen Yan and her husband took their three children and hung out with friends. As they took an elevator, two undercover cops took the same one. They took buses, and the same individuals followed, even to a restaurant. Then, the Chen Yan couple called police. Police came by, telling them, “They don’t affect you guys nor disrupt you guys. You just do whatever you want to. It doesn’t affect your normal life.” Chen Yan’s husband said to police, “Can you ask them to keep some distance from us? The moment I see them, they affect me. My friends ask us what is going on.” Chen Yan asked police, “Do you acquiesce that we are followed by others?”
Police answered, “It is not acquiescence, it is the demand from the superiors, they can follow you guys.” The Chen Yan couple said, “If police like you who wear the police uniform or even auxiliary police follow us, it is okay, but we have no idea their identity and they just follow us.” Police said, “You give police a phone call and we can help you verify their identity, I can tell them not to disrupt your life and work. If anything happened, I would be responsible and their work unit would be responsible, too. You can call 110. They belong to a work unit. We know their
work unit, but it is unnecessary to let you know.” Chen Yan’s husband asked if it
was a confidential work unit, and police said, “Nope, it is not, but we can’t tell you. You just do what you are supposed to do.”
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| A second individual follows the family on public transportation (Photo: ChinaAid source) |
Authorities have illegally surveilled Chen Yan’s family for over 600 days since the Early Rain crackdown. Strangers and undercover cops followed them after their case was settled. It is overwhelmed them, so Chen Yan reported to Qingyang District Funan Police Station in September 2020. She was ignored repeatedly for months.
A few other Christian families of Early Rain Covenant Church have different Christmas accounts. Some were surveilled by a few vehicles which didn’t have any police signs. National security agents parked at the entrances of personal garages in unmarked cars. One surveilled Christian reported: “It seems that they are facing a formidable enemy on Christmas, we are surveilled and followed, and the unique day deserves a unique celebration!
Elder Li Yingqiang was taken away by Deyang police on Christmas Eve, at 6:30 PM in order to stop Early Rain Covenant Church’s online Christmas service. He was released at 12:40 AM and went home.
~ Yu Bing, ChinaAid Special Reporter