Dong Tam Farmers Release All Policemen, Cadres after Negotiation with Hanoi Leaders

By Defend the Defenders, April 22, 2017

On April 22, farmers in Dong Tam commune, My Duc district in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi released the remaining 19 police officers and cadres who had been held hostage for eight days in a dispute over 47 hectares of land.

The move came after negotiations with the city’s leadership. Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung of the city’s executive body, the People’s Committee, pledged not to seek prosecution of local residents for resisting the local authorities. The latter attempted to seize their land to allocate it to the military-run Viettel Group in order to build non-military facilities.

Mr. Chung pledged not to seek prosecution of the farmers for detaining policemen and officials and keeping them hostage.

Yesterday, Chung also requested Viettel Group and other companies to stop construction works on the disputed land and launched an inspection, to be held over the next 45 days.

The incident started on April 15 when authorities in My Duc district detained many farmers without warrants. In response, Mieu Mon villagers detained around 40 policemen and local officials and kept them in the village’s common building.

Hanoi deployed thousands of police, militia and thugs to the area, blocking all roads to the village. The electricity and water supply of the village were cut as well as telecommunications, making the village isolated from the outside world.

On April 17, the villagers released 18 policemen, and on April 21 they freed a senior propagandist of the district, on humanitarian grounds.

Many activists in Hanoi have also been under close police surveillance as the authorities tried to prevent them from going to My Duc to support the farmers.