12/15/2019 China (International Christian Concern) – The Chinese authorities continue to harass the members of Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC), a year after the 1209 crackdown.
On December 11, around 9 am, four preteens from ERCC who were preparing to be homeschooled at a teacher’s house were stopped by more than a dozen of plainclothes police before being interrogated. The teacher with the surname Chen and the four children were brought into Chadianzi police station at 10 am. Chen was soon handcuffed and separated from the children.
The preteens were told not to contact their parents or their cell phones would be confiscated. Without their guardians in sight, they were asked to write down their addresses, both their parents’ and their phone numbers, and provide finger prints. They however still texted their parents to inform them of their illegal detention.
A parent with the surname of Zheng learned of the situation at 1 pm and decided to call the police, only to be questioned instead. He was asked why his child was not at school at this moment and instead was arrested in a home. He also received a phone call from the local education bureau claiming that not sending his child to public school is an illegal act.
China Aid reports these children around the age of 10 were not given lunch during the six-hour detention. Their teacher was only sent home at 9 pm that day. Reportedly this was not the first time for these preteens to be detained. Among the four, they have experienced detention from two to four times.
Though very young, these preteens were wise and brave throughout the process. They did not find it scary to be detained, because they know their parents and they did not do anything wrong. They were targeted for their faith and being home-schooled. They also took up the opportunity and explained their faith to the police officers and witnessed to them.
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