A female protestor in Ho Chi Minh City on June 10
Defend the Defenders, June 10, 2018
Vietnam’s security forces in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities have violently cracked down peaceful demonstrations of local residents who are protesting the two bills on Special Economic Zones and Cyber Security.
Citizen journalists have reported that security forces arrested dozens of protestors in Hanoi and HCM City in the morning of Sunday (June 10). Police and militia were reported to brutally beat many peaceful demonstrators in the two biggest cities as well as in Danang, the largest economic hub in the country’s central region.
Facebookers circulate pictures and videoclips showing protester Huynh Tan Tuyen is with his blood on his dresses as results of being beaten by police in HCM City.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau-based activist Huynh Tan Tuyen was beaten by security forces in HCM City on June 10
Blogger Nguyen Thai Son from Danang said police brutally assaulted Bui Lam and his fellows when they appeared in the city’s center to join with others in the demonstrations there.
Police still hold the detainees in many locations in these cities, local activists informed Defend the Defenders. In custody, police officers interrogated detainees, they said.
Activists reported that security forces in HCM City also used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), a weapon purchased from the US to equip patrol forces, to deal with peaceful protestors.
The mass protest started yesterday with the participation of around 50 thousands of workers in Tan Tao Industrial Zone in HCM City on Saturday (June 9).
On next day, thousands of Vietnamese rallied in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Nha Trang and other locations.
In these peacefeul demonstrations, participants used banners “No EEZs” or “Stop Bill on Cyber Security.”
Vietnam’s security forces across the nation have tightened control over the week. Authorities in localities have sent police and militia to station near private residences of local activists since June 9, effectively placing them under house arrest in a bid to prevent them from joining protests. Many activists reported that they left their house during the week to avoid being locked by security forces.
The demonstrations were planned days in advance in response to the plan of the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly to pass the two bills next week during its one-month meeting started on May 20.
According to legal experts, the bill on Cyber Security, if is approved, will give sweeping new powers to the Vietnamese authorities, allowing them to force technology companies to hand over potentially vast amounts of data, including personal information, and to censor Internet users’ posts. The law aims to silence government’s critics and every Internet users may be criminally charged just for exercising their basic right to freedom of expression, activists said.
Meanwhile, with the law on Special Economic Zones, Vietnam’s communist government wants to establish three zones namely Van Don, Phu Quoc and Bac Van Phong in the three strategic locations in the three regions of the country, in which foreign investors may be allowed to rent land for 99 years. Activists suspect that the bill is the first step to allow Chinese investors to acquire land and bring Chinese untrained workers to in these locations to turn them into China’s territory.
Vietnam has no need to set up more special economic zones to attract foreign investment, said many senior economists, including veteran chief economist Pham Chi Lan. The country has signed a number of free trade agreements with the EU, the US and other countries so it should focus on implementation of these pacts, they said.
In addition to national security issues with the potential investment from China, these special economic zones will create unfair treatments of companies and people in these locations and other remaining places, according to entrepreneur Le Hoai Anh.
Under the public pressure, Vietnam’s rubber-stamped parliament and its government said they will postpone the discussion and approval of the bill on special economic zones to the next session of the parliament scheduled in October this year.
The communist-controlled parliament is expected to conduct voting on the bill on cyber security on June 12.
Vietnam’s communist governments does not welcome spontanous public demonstrations on most issues, including the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea. In recent years, security forces have suppressed many peaceful demonstrations and persecuted and jailed a number of activists for their participation under allegation of “causing public disorders.”
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June 10, 2018
Dozens Detained, Beaten as Vietnam Violently Disperses Peaceful Demonstrations Protesing Bills on Special Economic Zones and Cyber Security
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights]
A female protestor in Ho Chi Minh City on June 10
Defend the Defenders, June 10, 2018
Vietnam’s security forces in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other localities have violently cracked down peaceful demonstrations of local residents who are protesting the two bills on Special Economic Zones and Cyber Security.
Citizen journalists have reported that security forces arrested dozens of protestors in Hanoi and HCM City in the morning of Sunday (June 10). Police and militia were reported to brutally beat many peaceful demonstrators in the two biggest cities as well as in Danang, the largest economic hub in the country’s central region.
Facebookers circulate pictures and videoclips showing protester Huynh Tan Tuyen is with his blood on his dresses as results of being beaten by police in HCM City.
Ba Ria-Vung Tau-based activist Huynh Tan Tuyen was beaten by security forces in HCM City on June 10
Blogger Nguyen Thai Son from Danang said police brutally assaulted Bui Lam and his fellows when they appeared in the city’s center to join with others in the demonstrations there.
Police still hold the detainees in many locations in these cities, local activists informed Defend the Defenders. In custody, police officers interrogated detainees, they said.
Activists reported that security forces in HCM City also used Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs), a weapon purchased from the US to equip patrol forces, to deal with peaceful protestors.
The mass protest started yesterday with the participation of around 50 thousands of workers in Tan Tao Industrial Zone in HCM City on Saturday (June 9).
On next day, thousands of Vietnamese rallied in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, Nha Trang and other locations.
In these peacefeul demonstrations, participants used banners “No EEZs” or “Stop Bill on Cyber Security.”
Vietnam’s security forces across the nation have tightened control over the week. Authorities in localities have sent police and militia to station near private residences of local activists since June 9, effectively placing them under house arrest in a bid to prevent them from joining protests. Many activists reported that they left their house during the week to avoid being locked by security forces.
The demonstrations were planned days in advance in response to the plan of the country’s highest legislative body National Assembly to pass the two bills next week during its one-month meeting started on May 20.
According to legal experts, the bill on Cyber Security, if is approved, will give sweeping new powers to the Vietnamese authorities, allowing them to force technology companies to hand over potentially vast amounts of data, including personal information, and to censor Internet users’ posts. The law aims to silence government’s critics and every Internet users may be criminally charged just for exercising their basic right to freedom of expression, activists said.
Meanwhile, with the law on Special Economic Zones, Vietnam’s communist government wants to establish three zones namely Van Don, Phu Quoc and Bac Van Phong in the three strategic locations in the three regions of the country, in which foreign investors may be allowed to rent land for 99 years. Activists suspect that the bill is the first step to allow Chinese investors to acquire land and bring Chinese untrained workers to in these locations to turn them into China’s territory.
Vietnam has no need to set up more special economic zones to attract foreign investment, said many senior economists, including veteran chief economist Pham Chi Lan. The country has signed a number of free trade agreements with the EU, the US and other countries so it should focus on implementation of these pacts, they said.
In addition to national security issues with the potential investment from China, these special economic zones will create unfair treatments of companies and people in these locations and other remaining places, according to entrepreneur Le Hoai Anh.
Under the public pressure, Vietnam’s rubber-stamped parliament and its government said they will postpone the discussion and approval of the bill on special economic zones to the next session of the parliament scheduled in October this year.
The communist-controlled parliament is expected to conduct voting on the bill on cyber security on June 12.
Vietnam’s communist governments does not welcome spontanous public demonstrations on most issues, including the country’s sovereignty in the East Sea. In recent years, security forces have suppressed many peaceful demonstrations and persecuted and jailed a number of activists for their participation under allegation of “causing public disorders.”