VietNamNet Bridge – In the afternoon of April 7, a group of masked men used an excavator to bulldoze a house on Hoang Hoa Tham Road, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. A 21-year-old boy quickly woke up and escaped from the house.

 

 

 

Witnesses said that at 4.30pm, four masked men appeared in front of the house. One got into an excavator that had parked nearby and bulldozed the 50sq.m house.

"I woke up when the house was suddenly shaking. I did not know what was happening yet when the whole wall collapsed. Fortunately, I promptly ran out of the house," said Dang Hong Thien, 21, the son of the house’s owner.

The police blocked the scene and began investigating the incident.

The masked men ran away immediately. The landlord – Mr. Dang Thanh Hong, 57, said the house was in a dispute. He said they bulldozed the house to put pressure on his family in order to take their land.

According to Hong, he bought this plot of land many years ago, without official land use right certificate. He still owes the land seller a small amount of money.

 

 

The house's owner - Mr. Dang Thanh Hong (right).

A few years ago the land seller offered him a sum of money to move away, but he did not agree. Hong then sued this man for selling the plot of land of his family to a private company.

In November 2012, a group of strangers, led by the company’s employees, came to Hong’s house, forcing the family to leave. They demolished the house’s roof. That time Hong reacted and had his arm broken. He denounced the company of breaking his house and the local police received the petition.

When the lawsuit and the petition had not been handled yet, in the afternoon of April 7, the house was bulldozed by four masked men.

Dam De