Binh Thuan settles disturbances caused by extremists

The disturbance began at about 5pm of June 10 when a group of people gathered and moved from Phan Thiet Market to the provincial People’s Committee building to protest draft law provisions on special administrative-economic units and leasing land at the units for up to 99 years.

They shouted and jostled police and guards of the building and incited bystanders to attack police with bricks and stones.

The disorder reached its peak when hundreds of people threw stones at the headquarters of the Binh Thuan People’s Committee. Some even attacked police with homemade petrol bombs, stones and some other tools, and destroyed the fence and burned the sentry box and several rooms of the sentry force. They also damaged the fence around some other provincial agencies. 

Traffic near the administration’s headquarters was paralysed while over 15 motorbikes were burned down and many facilities were destroyed.

Police were sent to the site, and the crowd was only dissolved by about 2am of June 11.

Some extremists were arrested to serve an investigation into the incident.

Also on June 10, the National Highway 1A in Phan Ri town of Tuy Phong district was blocked as dozens of people gathered on the road to object to the draft provision on 99-year land lease, causing a traffic congestion that stretched several kilometres. When the police came, many in the crowd threw stones at the police and broke the glass of many trucks on the road.

By around 2am of June 11, the crowd on National Highway 1A in Phan Ri town was dissolved, and traffic returned to normal.

According to the Binh Thuan Department of Public Security, some police officers were slightly injured while on duty, but there were no deaths in the incidents.

The provincial People’s Committee is calling on local residents not to follow extremists’ incitement which could violate law and disrupt security and order.

Investigations into the incidents are underway.

Two detained for protest over special economic zone draft law

Police in the southern province of Binh Duong on June 9 arrested two people who called for protests against the draft law which would lease land at special economic zones (SEZ) to foreign investors for 99 years.

The two people are Tran Minh Hue, 37, and Nguyen Dinh Thanh, 27, who are now both living in Binh Duong. They delivered leaflets and then called on people to demonstrate against the SEZ draft law.  

They were detained while distributing the leaflets near Song Than Industrial Park in Di An Town.

At the police station, Hue admitted her violations which were instructed by an anti-state organisation abroad.

On June 10, crowds also gathered in HCM City, Khanh Hoa Province and Binh Thuan Province demonstrated.

At around 9 am on June 10, people rushed to Lang Cha Ca area in Tan Binh District, HCM City, for the demonstration, leading to the serious traffic congestion. Some people missed flights from Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Meanwhile, until 10 pm on June 10, crowds gathered at head offices of provincial management agencies for the protests against the SEZ draft law. Hundreds of traffic police were mobilised and disorder occurred in some instances.

The Vietnamese National Assembly began discussions on the SEZs last November. The zones are planned in Van Don in Quang Ninh Province, Bac Van Phong in Khanh Hoa Province and Phu Quoc Island in Kien Giang Province.

The bill, however, raised public concerns over the potential undermining of national security and violation of sovereignty if foreign investors, especially Chinese, are allowed to rent land for up to 99 years in these areas.

Following the public concerns, the government and National Assembly Standing Committee have agreed to ask the legislature to delay the vote on the law and further research its applicability.