An influential Protestant church in China has reported the arrest of prominent leaders in what appears to be an intensifying crackdown on the country’s underground Christian movement.
According to the Early Rain Covenant Church, nine individuals were detained on Tuesday after police raided their homes and the church’s offices in Chengdu, central China. Five of those arrested were released by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, over 1,000 miles away in Wenzhou, authorities began demolishing the Yayang Church, as documented in video footage provided by ChinaAid, a non-profit organization monitoring religious persecution.
Christian groups say the latest arrests, following a series of detentions last year, illustrate the Communist Party’s determination to suppress churches that do not conform to state ideology.
BBC has contacted the Chinese Embassy in the UK for comment. So far, authorities have not issued any statements regarding the arrests or the demolition in Wenzhou.
China officially promotes atheism and tightly controls religious practice. In 2018, the government reported 44 million Christians in the country, though it is unclear whether this figure includes participants in underground churches.
For years, the Communist Party has pressured Christians to join state-approved churches led by government-sanctioned pastors. However, Christian organizations report that enforcement has recently intensified, with arrests becoming quicker and more common.
At least two church leaders in China told the BBC that authorities are now arresting unauthorized church leaders with little or no warning, marking a shift from past practices where individuals were first warned, fined, and only arrested if they continued to resist state orders.
