Following Last Week’s Raid, Police of Beijing Again Illegally Raided Church of Ark Today

 
Following Last Week’s Raid, Police of Beijing Again Illegally Raided Church of Ark Today
The 80th day the Chinese government has besieged my whole family with underworld techniques.
Gao Zhisheng
 
Like the majority of ordinary Chinese, my wife and my child were never concerned with issues that are not directly related to their own lives.  However, like the majority of innocent people in China, they are not immune to the barbarity of a public authority that has gone completely roguish.  Merely because of their relationship to me, not because of what they do, they were closely stalked for over 70 days by the Chinese government with underworld means.  Their stalking of my daughter for over 70 days has become the most obscene record in the human history of governments.
 
A few days ago, deterred by the denunciation and pressure of public opinions from the civilized communities in the world, the plain-clothed agents of the Chinese government temporarily suspended this most obscene behavior against my wife and my child.  Today, it seems they are again somehow bedeviled and hurriedly resumed this obscene behavior against my wife.  After breakfast this morning, my wife went to her office to work extra hours.  When she inadvertently turned around, she found several big fellows with familiar faces were following her.  When she turned around, they all quickly turned around.  She immediately realized that the plain-clothed agents who had disappeared a few days ago have come back to stalk her.  They followed all the way until she went into the office.  At noon, my wife went out for some business and several big fellows again followed her like her shadow.
 
In the morning, a group of people from Anhui came to see me.  On my way to see these people, the plain-clothed agents again followed me in a group.  What amazed me is that platoon of stalking girls in beautiful uniforms had vanished into the thin air!  In its place was a platoon of male “performers” who staged a group show in women’s clothes at the market yesterday morning.  When we passed the same place we did yesterday, the peddlers saw again what they have seen in the past two months or so.  Many of them were excited and some simply whistled and shouted.  I turned around to check the reaction of this “entourage” of mine to these peddlers. Contrary to my anticipation, as I turned around, this huge platoon of agents in plain clothes turned around to escape from me, ignoring all the decorum and manners.  The speed with  which they ran was much faster than yesterday.  I didn’t have the heart today to videotape them.  The way they fled like frightened birds shows these young people still have some conscience and intuitive knowledge left in them.  Perhaps they really have to do this for reasons beyond their control.  Last night, my wife and I spent some time talking on this topic.  In fact, I feel sad sometimes for a long time when I see them.  Perhaps they really don’t want to degenerate into a tool for the operation of a political power that has gone underworld.  Yet, the harsh reality makes it impossible for them to extricate themselves from this situation.  Whenever I see them standing in piercingly cold wind, I’m really sad in heart.  Seeing they try their best to obstruct my activities, my heart continues to bleed for them…!
 
In the afternoon, I went to the prayer meeting as a routine.  As a group of us members of Church of Ark were listening to the sermon, two policemen from Nanhu Police Station suddenly broke in with two people whose identities were not known.  They claimed they came to investigate the complaint that someone reported to the police we were disturbing the people in the neighborhood (exactly the same as last week’s reason).  In the next 20 minutes or so, two policemen and a plain-clothed agent whose identity is not known showed good restraint throughout the incident, though their raid itself on the church is illegal.  Only one plain-clothed agent was rude and unreasonable.  Throughout the incident, he behaved like an out-and-out mean underworld thug.  Among the four people who entered the church, he did almost all the talk.  He rudely accused us that ours is an illegal assembly.  We told him in a very calm tone the clauses in the Constitution that protect our assembly.  Surprisingly, he replied like a robot reading a text: “Don’t only talk about the Constitution.  We are enforcing the regulations of the State Council.  Saying this, he took out a copy of “Regulations” from his pocket.  When he found a foreign media friend of mine who had gone to the church with me was videotaping this, he dashed over and dragged this friend of mine to a small room while another plain-clothed agent blocked the door.  I went over and saw that most rude plain-clothed agent (We will publish his photo on the web) was using barbarian violence against this media friend of mine.  When I entered the room, he was pinning my friend to a sofa where he tried to grab the video camera by force.  Finally, he rudely grabbed the video camera from this friend he pinned under him and grabbed his tapes.  Right after this, he behaved like a mad man completely out of self control.  He ran out from the small room and suddenly dashed toward Dr. Li Baiguang and the two people had about two minutes of physical contacts.  He searched the body of Dr. Li with violent force and Dr. Li and other members of the church criticized him that he should not use force and requested that he identify himself.  He yelled: “I’m not a law enforcement person.” “Even if you were a law enforcement person, it would still be illegal for you to resort to such indecent means, not to speak of the fact that you said you are not a law enforcement person. What’s your relationship with the police?” I questioned him. Finally, at the presence of the cold and indifferent policemen, we went over and stopped his thuggish behavior.  Before he went out, he asked me what my name is.  Instead of answering him, I asked him what his name is.  Hearing this, he assumed a manner typical of a drifter thug and patted me twice on the shoulder.  His meaning is clear: “We’ll see each other again.”  When we again talked to them about the Chinese constitution and their today’s illegal behavior, they left the church.
 
These are the illegal raids on the Church of Ark by the Beijing police in the last two weeks.  Here I want to tell our police friends once again who are constantly thinking about persecuting the house churches that the humility of the Christians is backed up their full confidence and behind the prostration of the Christians is their superb tenacity.  The bloody violence by the Roman Empire has only earned itself an infamy in the long memory of mankind.  What can you earn? Especially at a time when your days are numbered?
 
After the meeting, I was “escorted” home by the plain-clothed agents.
 
January 15, 2006 in Beijing stalked by the agents.
An Underground Roman Catholic priest arrested in Hebei
Another Underground Bishop has disappeared 

 Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A. —  Father Wang Wenzhi 王文芝, fifty years old, a priest in the diocese of Yongnian 永年in Hebei, was arrested by Chinese security officials after he finished offering his Mass in a family’s private home on December 11, 2005 in Fengfeng City 峰峰市, which is located southwest of the City of Handan 邯鄲市, Hebei.  He has been kept in the detention center of Guangping county 廣平縣 ever since.  We understand that the Chinese government is attempting to brain-wash and force Father Wang to cooperate with the government in order to join the official communist- established Patriotic Church.  We have been informed that the government has not been successful in its attempt to convert Father Wang to their official Church.
Father Wang is one of the first group of priests ordained in the diocese of Yongnian approximately twenty years ago.  On December 28 in the detention center of Guangping county he observed his twentieth anniversary of his priestly ordination.  Three policemen also escorted him to visit his mother briefly when she celebrated her 80th birthday.  Father Wang had been arrested 13 years ago and detained for approximately 18 months.
In the meantime, Bishop Han Dingxiang 韓鼎祥主教of Yongnian has disappeared. He had been arrested by the Chinese government more than six years ago in December 1999.  Since then he was kept in a government-run hostel somewhere in the diocese of Yongnian and, up until now, people were sometimes able to get a glimpse of him at his window.  But, no longer: he has been transferred to an unknown location and we have no news of him.  His health has been poor.
Joseph Kung, the President of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, said: “Obviously, the intensified horror campaign by the Chinese government to force the underground Church religious and faithful to register with the official Patriotic Church is actively ongoing.  I urgently call once again on the Olympic Committee to take note of these arrests and to consider canceling the Games in China in 2008 in order to preserve its good name and spirit.”   

Press Release – January 4, 2006
Contact: Joseph Kung
PO Box 8086, Stamford, CT  06905, U.S.A
Tel: 203-329-9712  Fax: 203-329-8415  E-Mail:  jmkung@aol.com

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