VietNamNet Bridge - On the morning of January 6, nearly 200 people from Village 10, Quynh Loc commune, Hoang Mai town in the central province of Nghe An, flocked to the sand mining area located in Truong Lam commune, Tinh Gia district of Thanh Hoa province, to prevent workers of Nghi Son Cement Company from mining silica sand.

Hundreds of people, mostly the elderly, women and children stood around the sand-bank. They lit fires, boiled potatoes amid the road to prevent vehicles of the cement company from entering the sand mine. They also prepared dozens of buckets, pots and plastic bags containing dirty things as "weapons."

This was the third time people of Village 10 flocking to this site to prevent the cement firm from mining sand.

According to the villagers, in 2002, the Chairman of Quynh Loc commune told them that the cement company leases the land for 10 to mine sand. The contract ended and the cement company must return the land to villagers. If it wants to further explore sand, it has to pay compensation.

They also said that in 2002, they only received 30 percent of the compensation paid by the cement firm, the commune government took 50 percent and the village authorities got 20 percent. They asked the local authorities to investigate of corruption.

Mr. Nguyen Van Duong, Vice Chair of Tinh Gia district, said that more than 70 police officers of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An provinces and guards of the cement company were mobilized to keep order and to call for people to dismiss but they failed.

Duong said the local government would investigate the case to have an answer to the people.

Source: VNE