CHAO: According to eyewitness reports, at 10:30am on December 25 (Beijing Time), 200 police officers and officials from Religious Affairs Bureau with 17 police vehicles raided a house church during its Christmas gathering in a rented commercial facility at downtown Ma Na Si County, Xinjiang Autonomous Region. 210 Christian believers and their leaders were gathered for a Christmas celebration.
According to an eyewitness report, at 11 am, 12 leaders were arrested. Their private property was confiscated with no receipts issued. The police also confiscated all the Christmas food before they left.
According to one female pastor who was at the meeting, the police officers presented a search warrant and stated the meeting was an “illegal religious gathering.”
By 12 o`clock midnight of the next day, 7 of the leaders had been released and 5 remained in custody. They are Pastor Guo Xianyao (54), Ms. Lu Jianzhen (47), Ms. Wu Haifang (28), Ms. Wang Ximei (54) and Ms. Zhou Bin (50).
One witness said that Pastor Guo Xianyao was severely beaten while in police custody.
Christmas Eve, Catholic Priests Beaten in Tianjin City:
In a related event, on December 19, 48 Catholic priests from Shanxi province were reportedly beaten by 30 unidentified gangsters in Tianjin city, where they were sent by their parish to negotiate with the Mayor the return of confiscated church property.
Seven priests were wounded and one congregent hospitalized.
The gangsters were already gone by the time the police arrived.