Source: www.ChinaAid.org
Date: November 8, 2020
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| Li Yingqiang and his wife.
(Photo: WeChat) |
(Leshan, Sichuan Province—Nov. 8, 2020) During the afternoon of November 6, Elder Li Yingqiang of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church (ERCC) posted on FaceBook that police were forcing his family, currently living in Leshan, to move again. That morning, Ms. Ren Ruiting, daughter of Elder Li’s landlord, Ren Dejun, told Li that police demanded her parents rescind their rental lease with Li. According to Ms. Ren, her parents were to reclaim their keys and demand that Li and his family move.
On October 25, prior to Elder Li moving his family to Leshan, police had coercively escorted him, his wife, and their two children from Chengdu (180 kilometers, approximately 112 miles, from Leshan). Before arriving in Leshan, Elder Li signed a two-year lease with Liao Qiang and Ren Dejun, his wife, hoping to avoid being expelled by government departments. Nevertheless, police began harassing Elder Li a week after he arrived in Leshan.
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Li Yingqiang with his two children in Leshan. (Photo: WeChat) |
Police harassment began in Leshan on November 3 in the evening at about 6 p.m. Renmin West Road police officers arrived at Elder Li’s place claiming to register demographic information of the four people in his family. Mid-morning on November 4, Police Officer Zeng phoned Elder Li several times, rechecking details about his lease. When Officer Zeng asked Elder Li to provide Liao Qiang’s online contact information, Elder Li declined.
At noon on November 6, however, after Ms. Ren told Elder Li of police demands that her parents rescind his lease, Elder Li phoned Officer Zeng and gave him Ren Dejun’s contact information. He asked that Officer Zeng and other police please not harass Ren Dejun’s family. He requested that police contact Ren Dejun directly to confirm she had rented to him and his family.
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Li Yingqiang and his wife walking on a street in Leshan. (Photo: WeChat) |
In response to police forcing him to move from Leshan, Elder Li sent out a request, asking people to pray and intercede for him and his family:
May the Lord provide us a place. May the Lord help us lean on His grace and guidance as we take each step and go to each place so that we can bear witness to his justice and mercy.
Brothers and sisters, please lift Brother Liao Qiang, his wife, and their families in prayer as well. May what will happen become the opportunity that God’s graceful gospel can be recounted and witnessed so those relatives who don’t understand us and those who drive us out on behalf of their superiors know that what we have done is to glorify God and testify to the heavenly good news which our eyes can’t see.
Yubing, China Aid Association Special Reporter
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