ICC Note: Members of this house church were following a long-held Chinese tradition of bringing grievances to the central government when local authorities have not been responsive. But this incident had a twist: the local authorities intercepted and detained them before they had a chance to appeal to Beijing.
By Qiao Nong
09/14/2015 China (China Aid)
In China’s southern Guangdong province, Guangfu House Church members were intercepted by 20 police at the airport on the afternoon on Aug. 30, on their way to Beijing to make a petition contesting unfair treatment by officials.
The petitioners, led by the Guangfu House Church’s pastor, Ma Chao, hoped to protest the local authorities’ recent confiscations of church belongings, meeting venue closures, and refusal to acknowledge church members’ petitions. Ma said that he and two others were placed under house arrest in a building near the Baiyun District Police Station. One church member who intended to go with the group of Christians was also put under house arrest in his village and had his cell phone confiscated.
“We were heading to the gate with the boarding passes,” Ma said. “More than two dozen police officers were waiting for us—two in uniform, the others in plainclothes—with officials from the Baiyun District government. They took us to the back of the Baiyun District Police Station and did not say how long we had to wait. Nobody talked to us. I saw the chief of the local religious affairs bureau named Yu Guigang, who had taken our things before.”
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