Mourners Clash
with Vietnamese Authorities
RFA
03-18-2013
Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police during a funeral this weekend in
northern Vietnam, officials and state media said Monday, in a rare incident
highlighting the alleged impunity enjoyed by top-ranked officials in the
one-party communist nation.
The violence broke out in the Vinh Phuc provincial capital Vinh Yen on Sunday,
according to the Tuoi Tre daily, following the death of Nguyen Tuan Anh, whose
mutilated body was discovered in a sewer drain in nearby Hoi Hop commune earlier
that day.
Initial findings from a police investigation indicated that Anh had drowned, but
family members rejected the claim, alleging that he had been murdered by the
son-in-law of Phung Quang Hung, chairman of Vinh Phuc province, during a gang
attack. They have called for a new investigation.
A resident of the town, who spoke to RFA’s Vietnamese Service on condition of
anonymity, said that police had been powerless to restrain the large number of
mourners, who had gathered to protest after authorities announced Anh’s death.
“I only know that the body was found in a kind of sewage ditch and that
authorities said he drowned,” the Vinh Yen resident said.
“A lot of people gathered to protest, overwhelming the police force,” she said.
Photos and video clips circulated online by Vietnamese netizens showed police
trying to hold back a surging crowd of hundreds as they paraded Anh’s coffin
through the town, demanding justice.
One widely circulated image, which shows a police officer knocking down one of
Anh’s family members, drew particular ire from Vietnam’s online community.
A member of the provincial people’s committee, who also spoke to RFA
anonymously, said that authorities were dedicating a majority of their resources
to investigating Anh’s case.
“Everybody is working on this issue. It is urgent because it concerns the
people,” the committee member said.
“Many people are upset, so the authorities from several different levels are
focusing on it.”
Police response
Colonel Ho Si Tien, head of social criminal investigations at the police
ministry, said at a press conference Monday that police had so far found no link
between Anh’s death and Phung Quang Hung’s son-in-law.
Tien said that police are investigating the “social disturbance” that took place
on Sunday, adding that around 500 people took part in the incident, according to
police estimates.
Speaking at the same press conference, vice director of the Vinh Phuc provincial
police Colonel Do Van Hoanh said an initial investigation had found that Anh and
a friend had been drinking beer together at a restaurant in Hoi Hop commune on
March 14.
On the way home, he said, Anh stopped by another restaurant near his house where
he met a group of young people and engaged in a fight. The victim's family
reported him missing soon after, but his body was discovered only at around 9:00
a.m. on Sunday morning.
Hoanh said that police had arrested five suspects in connection with Anh’s
death, who he said had admitted to attacking Anh with a kitchen knife at the
restaurant, but said they had failed to stab him. According to Hoanh, the
suspects said they then beat Anh to death with bricks and with their fists.
Anh’s family members believe that Phung Quang Hung’s son-in-law was either a
part of the gang that had confronted Anh on the night of March 14 or is
connected with that group of people.
Authorities said that the director of Vinh Phuc province had spoken directly
with Anh’s family to “settle the problem.”
Protests are extremely rare in Vietnam, where the government does not tolerate
dissent.
But growing public anger over alleged official corruption, most notably in
connection with land disputes, has led to a number of violent demonstrations in
the last year.
Reported by Mac Lam for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Joshua
Lipes.