Thousands of Children in Hanoi Outskirt Boycott School to Protest Land Seizure

Children in Ninh Hiep gather at local school gate but refuse to go in to protest land seizure

by Vu Quoc Ngu, Dec 23, 2015

Thousands of children in Ninh Hiep commune in Hanoi’s district of Gia Lam have refused to go to school in a bid to protest land seizure of the local authorities for a trade center building, state media has reported.

The children, who have boycotted studying from Dec 21, join their parents to street demonstration to opposite their land grabbing which will make them without land for business, newspapers said.

The local schools have tried to persuade the children while the local authorities have sought to threaten their parents, however, the children say no to school.

One parent said they will not send their offspring back to the school in ten days or longer.

Earlier this month, local authorities decided to build a trade center on a local parking lot where local traders use as a place for loading and reloading clothes and apparel products.

The local residents strongly opposite the construction, saying they will have no place for their business.

Land dispute is a problematic issue in Vietnam where all the land belongs to the state and people have only right to use it.

Thousands of Vietnamese have remained without land after local authorities have seized their land for urban and industrial development without paying reasonable prices.

Vietnam’s communist government has violently suppressed land petitioners. Many of them have been imprisoned for fabricated charges of conducting public disorders.