Recently, there was another incident in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, where a church cross was forcibly removed. Some church members reported the incident to the local police, but the police said they would not “investigate and deal with it.
Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, has a large Christian community. In 2014, churches in Wenzhou suffered from a “cross-demolition campaign” carried out by the Chinese Communist Party authorities in the city. Recently, the destruction of a Christian church cross was repeated.
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On January 16, 2021, the Longwan Branch of the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau issued a “Notice of No Investigation” regarding the “theft” of a cross from the Canghe Church. (From the “Chinese Christian Justice Fellowship” Twitter account)
On January 16 of this year, the crosses of two churches in Canghe and Yongzhong, Longwan District, Wenzhou were demolished by a large crane at night.
After the demolition, some church members reported to the Wenzhou Yongzhong Police Station that “the crosses of the Canghe Christian Church had been stolen. However, on the same day, the Longwan District Branch of Wenzhou Public Security Bureau sent a document entitled “Notice of No Investigation” to the person who reported the theft, stating that the “theft” of the cross from Canghe Church “does not fall within the jurisdiction of the public security authorities”. “The public security organs will not investigate and deal with it according to the law. The notice also said that if people who received the document were “not satisfied” with it, they could “apply for administrative reconsideration” to the Longwan District Government or “file an administrative lawsuit” with the Longwan District Court. The official seal of the Longwan Public Security Bureau in Wenzhou is stamped on the end of the document.
A picture made by local Christians shows the Canghe church after the cross was torn down. (From the “Chinese Christian Justice Fellowship” Twitter account)
Previously, the Canghe and Yongzhong churches were targeted by the authorities when a campaign to demolish crosses broke out in Wenzhou in 2014. After that, the two churches rebuilt their crosses. The recent incident was the second Time the crosses of these two churches were taken down.
Pastor Chongsuke Zhang, who lives in Illinois and has worked in the Wenzhou church for many years and has been “under residential surveillance” and “detained” for opposing the Communist Party’s demolition of church crosses, said that the recent incidents at Canghe and Yongzhong churches are not isolated cases. As early as 2014, the authorities used the same technique to tear down crosses.
He told reporters about his own experience: “When it started in 2014, they also took it down secretly in the middle of the night when no one was around. So our believers all shouted up and said ‘robbers, robbers’. The officers from the Public Security Bureau at the time told me, ‘Your believers are so unqualified that they shouted the Public Security Bureau as robbers.'”
Pictures made by local Christians reflecting the situation when the cross was torn down at Yongzhong Church. (From the “Chinese Christian Justice Fellowship” Twitter account)
Pastor Chongsuke Zhang also said that no government department had shown him any documents or procedures during the demolition of the cross. Due to the lack of documentary evidence, his church was unable to use “formal legal channels” to resolve the cross demolition issue.
He said, “Whether the government comes to demolish the cross or seize the church property, or whether they want to persecute the church, they will not come to you openly. I have also been intimidated by the triads.”
According to ChinaAid, a U.S. civil rights organization, the demolition of the crosses at the Canghe and Yongzhong churches was carried out by “operators hired by the local government. This is corroborated by Zhang Chongsui’s account.
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