VietNamNet Bridge - Tens of thousands of workers in many industrial zones in the south took to the streets to protest China’s aggression in the East Sea. Some agitators took advantage of the situation to incite workers to burn factories, and assault guards and foreign staff of many foreign-invested firms.

Thousands of people gather in front of the gate of Chinese enterprises to protest China’s anchoring of a rig in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Vietnam.

On Tuesday morning, with the national flag in hand, about 7,000 workers of the Thong Dung Shoe Company in the An Phu Ward of Thuan An Town, Binh Duong Province, began a march from the company headquarters through many roads and chanted slogans protesting China’s illegal installation of its HD-981 oil rig.

Many workers insisted that they would only return to work after China removes its rig from Vietnam’s waters. According to the workers, those who participated in the strikes are employees of Chinese or Taiwanese companies. The demonstration at first took place within the area of the Thong Dung shoe company, but whenever the group passed factories with Chinese characters, they stopped and chanted anti-China slogans.

At the Kingmaker Footwear Company in the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park 1 (VSIP 1), thousands of people entered the company campus. The firm had to allow its workers to temporarily stop working. A large number of the company’s workers joined the demonstration to walk through other roads on the park campus. They too sought Chinese companies to protest to.

In Thu Dau Mot town of Binh Duong Province, thousands of garment workers of the Hoang Gia Cat Tuong Company also went on strike and participated in a demonstration on Dr. Yersin Road in Hiep Thanh Ward and the roads around the new administrative center of Binh Duong.

By noon the same day, the strike had spread to the An Thanh industrial cluster in Thuan An Town. Many workers gathered in front of the Shyang Chen Hung Garment Company to chant "Hoang Sa, Truong Sa belong to Vietnam" and <asked China to | demanded that China> respect international law and immediately remove its oil rig. Following that, several people pushed down the gate   and climbed into the factory grounds to protest.

By 3pm, the demonstration had spread throughout the town of Di An, the Song Than Industrial Park, the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park II and Thu Dau Mot City, with no sign of letting up. Local authorities mobilized large forces to maintain order and security and to curb traffic congestion.

On Wednesday morning, thousands of people waving national flags continued marching on the roads within VSIP 1 in Thuan An to protest against China. However, the demonstration was downsized after many workers had become disenchanted with agitators who had been inciting them to destroy and rob the assets of the businesses.

At the Esquel Garment Company, hundreds of people tried to break in but they were blocked by company workers chanting the slogan: "Protecting the company is protecting our jobs." The workers then repelled the extremist group. The previous night, Esquel Garment Company had been attacked by hundreds of people.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Tran Van Nam, Vice Chairman of Binh Duong province, said about 19,000 workers participated in a march protesting China’s illegal actions in Vietnam’s waters. At first the march took place peacefully but some agitators incited workers to break the door to get into the campus of some factories. They forced the employers to allow their workers to be absent from work to join the demonstration. Many businesses owned by Taiwanese, Chinese, Korean and Japanese were afraid of the situation and permitted their workers to be off work early. Many companies displayed Vietnamese flags or the flags of their countries.

However, some agitators incited workers to smash gates, fences and other assets of businesses, causing chaos. Some people took advantage of the chaos to loot, burn factories and assault foreign staff.

According to preliminary reports of Binh Duong province, hundreds of companies have been affected by the demonstration and most of them are enterprises of Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean investors. Notably, 15 companies had their factories burned, with hundreds of thousands of USD in damage and hundreds of workers facing the risk of losing their jobs.

"Binh Duong will harshly penalize those who take advantage of the situation to incite perturbation and damage property of the people, businesses and the state. We are determined to suppress those who forced others to commit unlawful acts and we will quickly stabilize the situation in order to protect the rights and legitimate interests of investors and workers," stated Binh Duong’s Vice Chair, Tran Van Nam.

The Ministry of Public Security has sent its mobile police forces to Binh Duong to cooperate with local police to prevent the actions of some extremists.

Binh Duong authorities have also urged everyone to be calm and restrained and absolutely not to be incited by agitators to violate the law.

Also on Wednesday , Binh Duong police arrested over 476 people who incited smashing and robbery of the property of businesses in industrial parks in the province.

Authorities move to restore order after unrest at IPs

Authorities in several southern cities and provinces took measures to stabilise the situation in industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) where extremists incited workers to break social order and security.

In recent days, workers at IPs and EPZs in HCM City and the provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai held rallies to protest China's illegal placement of its oil rig in Viet Nam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

However, a number of extremists took the occasion to incite workers to break the gates, walls and property of companies with investors from Taiwan, China and some other countries.

Some even took advantage of the disorder to loot and set fire to factories.

Local officials instructed relevant forces to protect the foreign-invested companies and restore order.

Educational campaigns were held to help the workers understand the Party and State's viewpoint on resolutely safeguarding the country's independence and territorial integrity while preserving a peaceful and stable environment for co-operation and development.

The educational campaigns also emphasised the need to solve all disputes by peaceful means and called on workers to stay calm and avoid violating the law.

The local authorities also instructed that those who took advantage of the situation to cause social disorder and destroy the property of individuals, businesses and the State be punished strictly in accordance with the law.

Those who forced others to commit illegal acts would receive especially harsh punishments in order to quickly restore order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors and workers - VNS.

Compiled by Na Son