On the morning of August 22 during Early Rain Covenant Church’s Sunday service, police officers illegally raided the Wading group’s meeting spot in Chenghua District. They arrested 28 attendees, including children, and transported them to their station. Several officers beat Brother Dai,, and Brother Shu. One officer also grabbed a congregant’s cell phone. Authorities administratively detained Brother He and Brother Dai 14 days and fined them 1,000 yuan (154.70 United States Dollars). When Brother Dai returned home, he learned that police had detained him and Brother He the same day.

Authorities had detained Brother He for hosting the Wading group at his place. At the detention center, he thanked God when he prayed. One prisoner detained for using drugs felt confused and did not understand why Brother He thanked God for being detained. This man told Brother He, “We all in the cell deserve to be in custody except for you. You should not be detained.”

A Brother of ERCC visited He Shan (right), just released from the detention center. (Photo: WeChat)

CCP authorities detained Brother Dai on a charge of “continuing to host events after registration is revoked,” an unprecedented, absurd indictment. After arriving home, Brother Dai greeted Church Brothers and Sisters, and told them that he did alright at the detention center; that it was better there than in Chengdu Detention Center. Meanwhile, personnel from the Public Security Bureau, State Security Department, and the community stressed Brother Dai’s wife and children, relentlessly harassing them at the entrance of their rented apartment. Shortly after Brother Dai left the detention center, he had to speak to an official at a related department of the complex. That representative told him that he and his family had to move.