Vietnam hit by mass land protests
A mass protest over the Vietnamese government's land policies is gathering force, ahead of the opening session of the newly-elected National Assembly.
Witnesses say hundreds of peasants from the Mekong River Delta are surrounding the offices of the National Assembly in Ho Chi Minh City.
A smaller protest is also reportedly being held in the capital, Hanoi.
The protesters are demanding the return of their land, and for any wrongdoing by local officials to be punished.
Both protests have been going on relatively peacefully for several weeks, and received little coverage in the local media.
However, as the protest in Ho Chi Minh - Vietnam's second city and the main economic hub - has hotted up in the last few days, residents have started complaining about traffic disruption.
Land protests are not unseen in Vietnam, but correspondents say a demonstration of this scale and intensity is rare.
Frequent complaints
Security forces have begun to get involved to make sure the protest does not get out of control.
Local officials in the Mekong Delta provinces have been urged to come to Ho Chi Minh City to "persuade their people to go home", with promises that their complaints will be dealt with appropriately.
Meanwhile, a deputy minister of security was quoted by state media as saying that there had been a certain involvement of "reactionary forces overseas".
Last Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong called an urgent meeting with provincial leaders.
He asked for a prompt investigation into the case and warned that the Communist Party would not tolerate inappropriate measures.
Land seizures in the name of economic development have been a much-debated topic in Vietnam, where the state maintains the sole ownership of land.
Peasants frequently complain about unfair compensation and criticise the laws on land use, which in their opinion have too many loopholes and are easily abused by corrupt local government officials.
The new 500-strong Vietnam National Assembly, elected last May, is to begin its first session on Thursday in Hanoi.
With the mass protest intensifying outside, the deputies will no doubt have many things to debate.
By Nga Pham - BBC News - July 18, 2007.
Vietnamese police break up land protest after 27 days
Hanoi - Vietnamese police in riot gear broke up a demonstration of hundreds of people in Ho Chi Minh City who were demanding compensation for their seized land, witnesses said Thursday. After tolerating the long-running protest for 27 days, armed police moved in late Wednesday night to the tented camp outside the National Assembly offices, forcing the protesters onto buses bound for their home provinces. One of the protesters said the dispersing was peaceful.
"Police yanked down all the tents, banners and signs. They ushered groups of protesters onto one bus until it was full and then they started filling the second bus," a protester named Sinh told New Horizon radio.
"They did not have to beat anyone because no one had the strength to resist," Sinh added.
The crackdown came on eve of the National Assembly's scheduled session and a day after prominent dissident monk Thich Quang Do visited the protest and called for an end to the Communist Party's sole rule.
The demonstration of more than 500 people was the longest-running protest in Vietnam for years and had been publicized by overseas opposition groups as a sign of discontent with communist rule.
The protesters - from several Mekong Delta provinces - were demanding compensation for land that had been confiscated by local officials for development projects.
Signs and banners at the demonstrations accused local officials of "betraying the [Communist] Party and cheating the people." Other banners appealed directly to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to "save the people."
Land protests have become more common in Vietnam, with state media saying property disputes account for 85 per cent of complaints against the government.
On Tuesday, dissident Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do made a rare public appearance to support the demonstration and urged the protesters to also demand multi-party democracy.
Thich Quang Do, the deputy leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), delivered 300 million Vietnamese dong (about 20,000 dollars) to the demonstrators on Tuesday for food.
Deutsche Presse Agentur - July 19, 2007.
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