Hanoi - Vietnamese police in riot gear broke up a demonstration of hundreds of people in Ho Chi Minh City who were demanding compensation for their seized land, witnesses said Thursday. After tolerating the long-running protest for 27 days, armed police moved in late Wednesday night to the tented camp outside the National Assembly offices, forcing the protesters onto buses bound for their home provinces. One of the protesters said the dispersing was peaceful.
"Police yanked down all the tents, banners and signs. They ushered groups of protesters onto one bus until it was full and then they started filling the second bus," a protester named Sinh told New Horizon radio.
"They did not have to beat anyone because no one had the strength to resist," Sinh added.
The crackdown came on eve of the National Assembly's scheduled session and a day after prominent dissident monk Thich Quang Do visited the protest and called for an end to the Communist Party's sole rule.
The demonstration of more than 500 people was the longest-running protest in Vietnam for years and had been publicized by overseas opposition groups as a sign of discontent with communist rule.
The protesters - from several Mekong Delta provinces - were demanding compensation for land that had been confiscated by local officials for development projects.
Signs and banners at the demonstrations accused local officials of "betraying the [Communist] Party and cheating the people." Other banners appealed directly to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to "save the people."
Land protests have become more common in Vietnam, with state media saying property disputes account for 85 per cent of complaints against the government.
On Tuesday, dissident Buddhist monk Thich Quang Do made a rare public appearance to support the demonstration and urged the protesters to also demand multi-party democracy.
Thich Quang Do, the deputy leader of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), delivered 300 million Vietnamese dong (about 20,000 dollars) to the demonstrators on Tuesday for food.
