Private Residence of Hanoi-based Activist Attacked with Dirty Mess, Second Attack Within Ten Days

Police came to examine the house of Mr. Truong Van Dung after the attack on the early morning of Nov 27

Defend the Defenders, November 27, 2017

The private residence of activist Truong Van Dung in Hanoi was vandalized with a mixture made from waste lubricant oil, paint, and mam tom (fermented shrimp paste) in the early hours of November 27.

Mr. Dung said the attack was made at around 1 AM. He suspected that the incident was carried out by plainclothes agents since him and his family members have no personal disputes with anyone.

Dung, who has been harassed by by police officers and thugs in the past few years, said his family spent hours to clean their house after the attack.

This is the second attack with dirty mess against his family within ten days. The first incident occurred on November 18, few days after he was kidnapped and questioned by Hanoi police.

Earlier this month, when Vietnam hosted APEC Summit in Danang and U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hanoi, plainclothes agents also locked the gate door of his house with iron wires in a bid to block him inside.

Attacking activists’ private residences with dirty messes is one of many acts carried out by plainclothes agents and pro-government thugs in Vietnam in a bid to threaten and discourage them from continuing activities to promote human rights and democracy values.

The trick also aims to block his family’s economic activities since his wife uses the first floor to run a barber shop.

The family reported the attacks to the local police but no specific results were announced.

Mr. Dung, who is very active in peaceful demonstrations to protest China’s violations of the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea (South China Sea) and criticize many government policies, said he has been assaulted, detained and cheated by police officers and plainclothes agents in 15 different cases in the past few years.

All of acts are revenges of his activism, said Dung, who suffered many severe injuries in some of these attacks.