Chinese authorities raided a Protestant “house church” in the eastern province of Anhui amid a nationwide security clampdown during the annual National People’s Congress in Beijing, according to a U.S.-based rights group and local Christians. Police and local officials raided the Xinyi Village Church in Anhui’s Huainan city, detaining nine members including pastor Zhao Hongliang, the Christian rights group China Aid reported on March 5.
Four men including Zhao are now being held under “criminal detention,” while the remaining five were released on bail, the group said. Local officials from the neighborhood committee and the bureau of religious affairs have taken control of the church premises, which police continue to harass its congregation, the report said. The church is a member of the ruling Communist Party’s Three-Self Patriotic Association of approved organizations, but had refused to comply with official demands, according to China Aid (in Chinese).