by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) - In continued governmental, systemic harassment of Christians in China, on September 4 Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials raided a Christian music school in Heilongjiang province and took away the school principal, who has not been heard of since, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports. The CCP considers Christians a threat to its authority and seeks to suppress them through persecution and a nationwide Sinicization program.
The raid on the music school took place at around 8:30 am and was carried out by some 30 CCP SWAT officers, police officers, religious affairs bureau officials, and local school district administrators, ICC said. More than 100 students and teachers were taken away for interrogation and were detained for 24 hours. Officials also confiscated school property including pianos, computers, and documents.
The school’s head, Principal Xu, was intercepted by authorities on this way to school that morning and has not been heard of, ICC reports. Just a day before the raid, Xu had told colleagues that police called his landlord and told him to get ready for a “ trial.”
As the school is for children under the age of 18, local Christians have reportedly expressed their concern that Principal Xu will be charged with the criminal offense of “enticing minors to religion.”
China ranks 17 on the US Open Doors 2021 Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.