Police in central Henan Province have arrested Pastor Zhang Shaojie, head of the church in Nanle County, along with 20 staff and church members. Authorities did not give a reason for the arrests, but sources speaking to ChinaAid said that Pastor Zhang has "angered the authorities" because of his defense of the believers in his church against abuses of power by communist officials.
It is noteworthy that Zhao is part of the Three-Self Movement, the official, government-approved Protestant church. In China, only registered denominations are allowed. However, there are many more members of unofficial Protestant churches - around 80 million - than of the Three-Self Movement, which has around 20 million members. For almost five years, the authorities have been campaigning to either eliminate the underground churches or unite them with the official churches.
According to local sources, the arrest of 48-year-old Pastor Zhang may also be motivated by the authorities' desire to install someone other than him as the leader of the Christians in the area. In any case, believers accuse the police of "tricking" the pastor by "inviting him for a conversation" on November 16. He then disappeared. The next day, police surrounded the church and detained the faithful who wanted to attend the Sunday service. Police have threatened the faithful and warned them against attending church meetings.
Members of the congregation and Pastor Zhang's family gathered in front of the police station after he was taken away to protest the arrest. They were denied access to the station and some were beaten. Pastor Zhang's two sisters were detained during the protest. During the night, officials made church members come to a local government building, where officials warned them, threatened them and instilled fear in them. The families of those arrested have not been given any information about their whereabouts, but government officials had appeared on the internet disguised as Pastor Zhang to reassure people.
The morning after the arrest, all access roads to the church were guarded and anyone who tried to enter was arrested. The authorities had even declared Sunday, normally the weekly day off, a working day. This meant that people were forced to go to work and therefore could not go to church. The church's assets were frozen immediately after Pastor Zhang's arrest. On Monday evening, November 18, authorities raided another worship space belonging to the same church and ordered everyone present to leave immediately.
The pastor's daughter, Zhang Huixing, fled with her husband and the couple's ten-month-old daughter to an unknown location where they are in hiding. She has reported that she has received many threatening phone calls. People from the community have contacted Xia Jun, a well-known civil rights lawyer, who has rushed to Nanle to defend those arrested when - or if - their case goes to court.
Sources: AsiaNews and ChinaAid
