63 Chinese religious refugees detained in raid

CHON BURI: Sixty-three Chinese nationals detained in Pattaya for overstaying their visas are members of a self-exiled Christian congregation seeking United Nations protection from religious persecution, their supporters say.

Two Americans who have been trying to help the group relocate to the United States have also been detained, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Local police and immigration officers rounded up 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church on Thursday at the Long Lake Hillside Resort in Bang Lamung district.

They were acting on information that many Chinese nationals had been staying there for a long period of time, said Pol Col Thawee Kudthalaeng, chief of Nong Phrue police station.

They were taken to a police Immigration Bureau facility in Pattaya where they remained yesterday, the Journal reported, quoting church pastor Pan Yongguang and an American activist who has been supporting the congregation’s efforts to seek asylum.

They were expected to be brought before an immigration court for a deportation hearing.

The group consists of 32 adults and 31 children from 16 families. They were holding Chinese passports, and some had expired cards from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, while some children had birth certificates said to have been issued in Bangkok.

The 32 Chinese adults were charged with overstaying their visas, the American news outlet quoted Pol Col Thawee as saying.

The children were not charged and the two American citizens were not placed under arrest, he added.

According to the Journal, the members of the Shenzhen-based church fled what they called “intensifying government persecution” three years ago.

Last year, Mr Pan brought the group to Thailand, where they submitted applications in September asking the UN refugee agency for protection.

Mr Pan told the Journal that the raid in Pattaya took place after a member expressed a wish to return to China in March last year, and that he had spoken to Chinese security officials. The church expelled that member soon after, he said.