Chinese Officials Deny Water, Electricity to House Churches That Refuse to Instal Surveillance Cameras
Officials in China have come up with new ways to coerce house churches to yield to their demands.
At the start of this month, the officials cut off power and water supplies to a number of churches and homes of church leaders in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China Aid reported.
Church leaders said this was done after they refused to allow the installation of surveillance devices in their churches as demanded by the government.
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One of the affected churches was the Tuanqian Village Church in Rui'an, a city in Wenzhou, Zhejiang. An anonymous member of the church told China Aid that the leaders of that church appear ready to give in to the officials' demands since depriving their church and homes of power and water supplies is just "too much pressure."
That church is the only one left in Rui'an that still hasn't installed the surveillance cameras in its premises as demanded by government officials.
But now, "the church is giving up resistance," the source said.
At least two other village churches in Rui'an also lost their power and water connections until church leaders agreed to install the cameras.
Last month, in a previous CP report, police officers barged into the Zhongfu Wanmin Church in China's southern Guangdong province during a church service and arrested dozens of members, including an American family with children.
The police also confiscated the mobile phones, ID cards and bank cards of some of the church members who tried to film and take pictures of the police raid.
The police even beat the church pastor named Li Peng after he tried to take pictures of the raid, according to China Aid.
The pastor and 30 members of his church were then taken to the police station for interrogation. All were released the following except for one—Pastor Li, who remained in detention and incommunicado even to his wife who came to visit.
In another related CP report last month, about 100 Chinese special police and other security officers raided a building in China's northeastern Liaoning province where about 40 house church pastors were gathered for a "Unity in Christianity" event.
The authorities accused the pastors of "participating in illegal gatherings without government permission," according to China Aid.
Three of the pastors were arrested and taken away while the rest were locked up in a room and interrogated for several hours.
Underground or unregistered house churches are illegal in China and are often subjected to raids and other forms of intimidation by the authorities. Some local governments in China have shut down these unregistered churches.
China is ranked 39th on Open Door USA's World Watch List of countries where Christians face very high if not extreme level of persecution.
