2017 Hanoi hostage crisis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2017 Hanoi hostage crisis
Part of Land disputes in Vietnam
Date15 - 22 April, 2017
Location
Đồng Tâm, Mỹ Đức, Hanoi  Vietnam
Caused byArrest without warrant of four villagers
GoalsRelease of captured representatives
MethodsHostage taking
Resulted inHostages released based on promises subsequently reneged. Punishing police raid 3 years later.
Parties to the civil conflict
Đồng Tâm villagers

Mỹ Đức government

Hanoi Mobile Police
Lead figures
Lê Đình Kình Hanoi Government

Chairman of People's Committee Nguyễn Đức Chung

Director of the Criminal Police Department Ho Sy Tien
Number
Dozens
Dozens
Casualties
Death(s)0
Injuries2
Detained38
ChargedNone

Thirty-eight Vietnamese police officers were taken hostage by villagers in Đồng Tâm commune, Mỹ Đức District, Hanoi on April 15, 2017, after police arrested 4 villagers without a warrant in a land dispute.[1][2][3] A total of 38 hostages were taken, including the Mỹ Đức district Deputy Chief of the Peoples' Committee Đặng Văn Triều, Deputy Chief of Public Security Nguyễn Thanh Tùng, Propaganda Chief of the district Party Committee Đặng Văn Cảnh, and two journalists.[4] Two days after the initial hostage-taking, 3 detainees were released by the police in Hanoi, including the main representative of the people in the land dispute, Mr. Lê Đình Kình, an 82-year-old man who was injured and hospitalized. In response, the villagers released 15 policemen; three more managed to escape.[2][5]

On April 22, the villagers released the remainder of the hostages after securing concessions from the government.[6] However, 3 years later a thousand policemen came back to the village and killed the village representative.[7]

Disputes over land rights are common in Vietnam, government agencies reserve the right to seize farmland for construction and investment projects.[8] The crisis was a rare act of defiance in Vietnam, where anger against official corruption and land seizures simmers, but is usually met with a forceful response from police.[9]

Cause[]

The incident was triggered by the Đồng Tâm commune's opposition to the Mỹ Đức District government assigning their land to the Viettel Group, a business firm owned and managed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Defence, for the construction of their factory complex.[10]

According to the newspaper Người Cao Tuổi, the area of Miếu Môn (adjacent to Đồng Tâm) served as the site of a temporary airport during the war.[citation needed] In 1980, following the Sino-Vietnamese War, the government of Vietnam retrieved 208 ha to build an airport there, 47.36 ha of which served as agricultural land of Đồng Tâm.[citation needed] Because the project was not implemented, Brigade 28 of the Vietnam People's Air Force returned the land to Đồng Tâm.[11]

In 2014, the city council of Hanoi once again returned a total of 236.7 hectares (585 acres)—28.7 ha more than the initial 208 ha—to the Ministry of Defense.[citation needed] The people in Đồng Tâm claimed 28.7 ha as part their agricultural land.[12] In 2015, the Vietnamese Ministry of Defense allocated 50 ha of this land to the Viettel Group, which included 46 ha belonging to Đồng Tâm.[11]

Events[]

Villager view[]

On April 15, 2017, according to a villager who spoke to the BBC, the police invited representatives of the villagers involved in the land dispute to come to measure the border between the military and agricultural land. They then detained the four representatives without arrest warrants. Some of the villagers tried to retrieve them and there was a clash with the police. Five more villagers were detained. One young villager was severely injured and had to be taken to the hospital. Other police officers tried to disperse the crowd, but more than 30 of them were taken hostage.[13][14] By 17 April, journalists and other individuals had arrived to try to negotiate to release the 38 hostages.[2]

Authorities' report[]

According to the Hanoi authorities there was a misuse of the military land and on 30 March, they decided to start a trial because of disrupting public order, which was why they came to arrest four people. Hanoi authorities said they are taking measures to rein in the situation with priority given to rescuing the detained officers. They have also urged the residents to stay calm and cooperate and ensure the safety of the officers. Till now, that is the content of the only article of Vietnam News Agency, that was published by all the official newspapers about this case accept one more of Vnexpress.[15]

17 April[]

There was news that the district government cut the electricity and Internet connections of the commune.[6]

Lawyer Trần Vũ Hải wrote in an article in Facebook, that other lawyers Nguyễn Hà Luân, Lê Văn Luân and he had arrived at the village and were negotiating with both sides. The villagers said they don't trust the police from the commune and the district.[5] The mayor of Hanoi, Nguyễn Đức Chung, should come to fetch the hostages but first release the detained villagers. They also showed their anger that the public Vietnamese television did not report the case correctly. The mayor of Hanoi promised to release the detainee in an hour and involve in the land dispute himself to solve the case and punish the wrongdoers, and he will go to see the villagers on the 18th. The police of Hanoi also has released three detainees. The main representative, Lê Đình Kinh, 82 tuổi, was injured and was taken to the hospital to be operated on. In exchange, the villagers released 15 policemen, 3 more have escaped. There are 20 hostages left.[11]

18 April[]

The next day lawyer Trần Vũ Hải said Mayor Chung told him to correct his writing, that he did not promise anything. But Hai said, that he was not the only one that heard the conversation between the villagers and mayor Chung. Besides the villagers and him, other lawyers who came together with him could also hear it.

Major general Bạch Thành Định from the Ministry Public Security said: "as chief of investigation department of the Public Security in Hanoi I confirm that the temporary release of the detainees (3) is not a deal with the local revolters." He also emphasized that he would determine to take the leaders of the group, who distorted the truth to cause the revolt, to court. Until noon of the 18th, roads to the village were still blocked by piles of big wooden logs and mounds of gravel.[16][9]

In the evening of 18 April, deputy chief of the committee of party members of the capital of Hà Nội Đào Đức Toàn stated that they delegated mayor Nguyễn Đức Chung to meet, discuss and solve the pressing issues of the people of the district of Mỹ Đức.[17]

19 April[]

The members of Parliament from the city of Hải Phòng, Lê Thanh Vân and from the province of Đồng Nai, Dương Trung Quốc had the same opinion, that Hà Nội mayor Nguyễn Đức Chung should soon discuss about the issue with the villagers of Đồng Tâm. Quốc said: "(to build) belief is not better than to speak with the people”. Lê Thanh Vân asked, “a military project to build an airport started from 1980 till now, because of national security, stop and start again waisting for the use of agriculture land for many years. Why? The people of Đồng Tâm have a need to speak to the mayor of Hanoi but till now there is no answer. Why?...”[18]

20 April[]

In the afternoon of 20 April, mayor Nguyễn Đức Chung went to district Mỹ Đức, 15 km from Đồng Tâm, to discuss with the committee of the party members in the district, how to deal with the people of Đồng Tâm. Speaking to the online newspaper Zing.vn, a villager in Đồng Tâm said, that they have received an announcement that every village should send 10 people to the district office to discuss with the mayor of Hà Nội Nguyễn Đức Chung. "We rather want Mr. Chung to go to Đồng Tâm to discuss with the people than we go to the district", he said.[17]

At the press conference in the afternoon of 20 April, answering foreign news media (news agency Reuters and TV Channel News Asia of Singapore) about the event in Đồng Tâm, Mỹ Đức, speaker Lê Thị Thu Hằng from the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the city Hà Nội is dealing with the event according to the Vietnamese law, guarantee the legal interest of everyone involved.[19]

21 April[]

In the meeting yesterday, there was only a representative of the commune Đồng Tâm, no villager attended. Chung said: "Tomorrow, the day after that I still ready to discuss directly with the villagers of Đồng Tâm..." and appeal to them to obey the law and take the roadblocks away, release the 20 police officers and officials at the hamlet Hoành back to their family.

Member of the parliament from Hà Nội Trần Thị Quốc Khánh informed, in the morning of 21/4, Member of the parlement group from Hà Nội will meet the voters from Mỹ Đức district. She said: "since the election and being elected here it has not been 1 year yet, I had some meeting with the voters, but nobody has reflected this matter with Hà Nội's parlement representatives yet. We are ready to listen, we also make our telephone number public for the people to call any time. I believe, now the most important thing is discussing, come to and listen to the people. For all the problems, both sides have to act according to the law and not without thinking and only to their feeling.”[20]

Also in the morning of 21/4, Lê Đình Ba (deputy chief of hamlet Hoành, Đồng Tâm) informed, villagers have released Đặng Văn Cảnh - political propaganda department chief of Mỹ Đức. He also told, that villagers are tidying the roads to welcome mayor Chung coming to discuss.[21]

22 April[]

Mayor Chung came to commune Đồng Tâm in the morning to meet the villagers there (50 invited, other can listen to the loudspeaker from outside) for about more than 2 hours. Nine villagers expressed their view, bringing up issues that were answered by Chung as follows:

  • About their appeal that Viettel group should stop building, there was a decision of the city on 20 April 2017 to investigate all the matters about the land dispute and there will be a result in 45 days.
  • About their appeal that district Mỹ Đức stop propagating that the disputed land is military land, there was an order to stop that propaganda because it is still investigated.
  • About their suggestion not coming to suppress them, there will be no suppress, no effort to try to rescue the hostages.
  • About their appeal that they will not be taken to court, mayor Chung admit that the way people were arrested is wrong, because the police did not show the arrest warrant, did not wear uniform and because the people cooperate, they will be judged mild.

After that, 19 hostages left were also released.[22][23] It was also announced later, through village loudspeakers, that Chung pledged not to investigate the criminal responsibility of the people in this incident.[24]

Police investigation[]

On June 13, Vietnamese police began a criminal investigation of farmers in Đồng Tâm village, despite a promise by Hanoi’s mayor not to prosecute them as a result of hostage-release negotiations during an April standoff between villagers and the local government. The investigation is focusing on the illegal detention of 38 police officers and officials and acts of vandalism allegedly committed by farmers after a clash over the government’s seizure of land in Đồng Tâm village in Hanoi's Mỹ Đức district.[25]

2020 Đồng Tâm raid[]

On dawn 9 January 2020, more than one thousand policemen carried out a raid on the village and killed Lê Đình Kình, the village representative. Three police officers were also killed during the clash. 20 villagers who were involved in the land dispute and hostage taking were arrested and prosecuted.[7]

According to a land rights activist, Lê Đình Kình was shot four times, in front of his wife.[7]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Hanoi urges villagers to release police 'held hostage' over land dispute". e.vnexpress.net. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Thông tin mới nhất về vụ việc ở Mỹ Đức" (in Vietnamese). tuoitre.vn. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  3. ^ "Vietnam Villagers Hold Dozens of Policemen in Land Dispute". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  4. ^ Người dân Đồng Tâm thả ông Đặng Văn Cảnh, tuoitre.vn, 21/4/2017
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Vietnam villagers hold police and state officiapeople ls hostage over land dispute". www.dw.com. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "Lessons Learned From Vietnam's Dong Tam Standoff". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "At Vietnam's 'Dong Tam Massacre', activists claim government attacked its own citizens". South China Morning Post. 15 January 2020.
  8. ^ "Why Vietnamese villagers are holding police hostage". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "Vietnam village sealed off as hostage crisis deepens". www.StraitsTimes.com. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Dân làng Đồng Tâm tiếp tục đấu tranh giữ đất" (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2017-04-17.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c Cưỡng chế đất Mỹ Đức: Hà Nội đồng ý đối thoại với dân, vi.rfi.fr, 19/4/2017
  12. ^ Nội dung Họp báo Chính phủ thường kỳ tháng 4/2017 Archived 2017-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, vpcp.chinhphu.vn, 4/5/2017
  13. ^ "Dân Đồng Tâm, Mỹ Đức bắt người, đối đầu với công an". 16 April 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017 – via www.BBC.com.
  14. ^ "TTXVN: 'Dân Đồng Tâm cản trở, giữ người trái luật'". 16 April 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017 – via www.BBC.com.
  15. ^ "Hà Nội thông tin về tình hình tại xã Đồng Tâm, huyện Mỹ Đức". VOV.vn. 16 April 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  16. ^ 15 cảnh sát bị bắt giữ tại Mỹ Đức được thả tự do, vnexpress.net, 18.4.2017
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b ZING.VN (20 April 2017). "Chủ tịch Hà Nội: 'Không tấn công giải cứu người bị bắt giữ'". Zing.vn. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  18. ^ , dantri.com.vn, 19/04/2017
  19. ^ Bộ Ngoại giao lên tiếng về 'điểm nóng' Đồng Tâm - Mỹ Đức, tuoitre.vn, 20 April 2017
  20. ^ Vụ Đồng Tâm, Mỹ Đức: ĐBQH Hà Nội chính thức lên tiếng, www.baogiaothong.vn, 21/04/2017
  21. ^ , vtc.vn, 21/04/2017
  22. ^ Chủ tịch Hà Nội kết luận tại cuộc đối thoại với người dân Đồng Tâm, danviet.vn, 22.4.2017
  23. ^ News, VietNamNet. "Người dân Đồng Tâm trao thả hết 19 cán bộ, chiến sỹ". VietNamNet.vn. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  24. ^ "Thả 19 người, không truy cứu trách nhiệm hình sự dân Đồng Tâm - Tuổi Trẻ Online". Tuoitre.vn. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Vietnamese Police Pursue Criminal Probe of Dong Tam Villagers in Land Standoff". rfa.org. Retrieved 12 July 2017.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""