VietNamNet Bridge - Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hoc, Chair of the office of Vinh Long Province People’s Committee, admitted to VietNamNet that three women in My Hoa commune, Binh Minh district, Vinh Long province were shot with rubber bullets by local policemen on September 20.

"We have received reports of the My Hoa Commune People's Committee and the police bureau of Binh Minh District about the incident related to the road project in My Thoi 2 hamlet, on the morning of September 20; which led to a clash between some local residents and guards. Some people were shot with rubber bullets by commune police officers," Hoc said.

Forcing people to donate land is wrong!

In the report of My Hoa Commune People's Committee Chairman, Mr. Truong Van Lot, on December 6, 2010, the People's Committee of Binh Minh District issued a document on the policy to build a road the My Hoa People’s Committee office to Rach Chanh Bridge, in My Thoi 2 Hamlet.

On June 24, 2011, the Binh Minh District People's Committee issued a decision on the approval of this project and assigned the urban management department as investor.

This is the project that uses capital from the fund for rural transport works. The road is 5.8 km long and the district and commune authorities several times mobilized local people to donate land for the road. The total number of affected households is 290, with an area of 4.6 hectares of land with around 4,230 ready-for-harvest grapefruit and orange trees, worth around VND1.2 billion ($60,000).

A total of 276 out of 290 households agreed to give land to the project. The remaining 14 households did not agree to donate land and crops without adequate compensation. These households own from 100m2 to 800m2 of land.

On August 24-27, 2012, the investor and the contractor cut off hundreds of grapefruit and orange trees of these families. At that time, tons of fruits were still on the trees.

In the morning of September 20, commune officials and commune policemen went to the land of four households to ensure that the road project was implemented. A clash between the land owners and the security forces occurred. A policeman used a gun with rubble bullets to fire on people.

Nguyen Hoang Hoc confirmed: "The policy of Vinh Long Province is to try to persuade people to voluntarily donate land. The province does not have coercive policy. The incident occurred due to the district and commune authorities. Wrongdoers will be handled according to law."

Commune police admit gun attack!

According to a report by the chief police officer of Binh Minh district, Lieutenant Colonel Duong Van Dep, the security force strung to protect the construction site.

However, the protesters including Ms. Vo Thi Sang, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhanh, and Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan rushed in with a knife, mace and gasoline in their hands, to attack the security forces, with 7 others.



Mr. Nguyen Van Tam, My Hoa commune policeman, was wounded in the arm and leg. When he was attacked, Tam fired two shots for warning but he was still chased.

"Tam was forced to pull his gun to shoot in the group, resulting in two people injured. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan got one bullet in the chest and one in the leg. Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhanh got one bullet in the leg," the report says.

The commune police forces seized at the scene six torches soaked in petrol, 5 knives, one saw and other objects.

However, in the afternoon of September 21, Nguyen Hoang Hoc verified that three people were shot, not two.

The same day, three injured people were operated at the Vinh Long Hospital due to infection.

Quoc Huy