Properties Claims

Ha Tinh

     My Loc Parish

During November 2011, the parishioners of My Loc Parish, Binh Loc Commune, Loc Ha District, Ha Tinh Province, were targeted with harsh police repression as a result of land dispute. District civil guards were deployed throughout 13 communes to execute the land eviction. In My Loc, the authorities had their men with field tractors, shovels, and hoes to clear the land, using as a pretext to set up irrigation works. Bad elements including drug addicts were used to intimidate the parishioners, stealing and destroying their crops. The security police chief of the commune Phan Khac Cu even seemed to ignore the complaints the parishioners reflected to him. 

      

On October 15, authorities extended groundwork as far as the premises of the parish. Unable to resist their anger, the parishioners rushed in a gathering, blocking them from proceeding with their work. Parishioners threw mud into the work team and the chairman of the commune people’s council. The work team had to withdraw. On October 17, the authorities and their work team came back. The parishioners resisted with resilience. Their crops were about to be gathered. The authorities and their work team, again, had to withdraw. The dispute over land at My Loc Parish persisted without solution like in parishes elsewhere in the country, An Bang, Thai Ha, and Dong Chiem where the problem in question remained unsettled. 

Unrest

The Fish-Kill Incident

In early April 2016, tons of dead fish washed ashore along the seacoast provinces of Ha Tinh, Qung Binh, Quang Tri, and Thua Thieh – Hue. The dead fish included species living far-offshore in deep water. The authorities conducted investigation, focusing on a mile-long waste pipeline running from the steel plant in Vung Ang industrial zone, Ha Tinh Province operated by Taiwanese Formosa. For many days, the cause had not been found. Local leaders told people to avoid eating fish. Fishermen didn’t go fishing. Dissent over  the mass fish deaths caused by the plant sparked as the mass and protests were fueled as Chou Fan, Formosa external manager, said local communities needed to consider where true interest lie, to catch fish and shrimp or build a steel mill. Vietnam reportedly earned 5 billion from steel exports. Formosa nevertheless attempted to distance itself from Chou’s statements, saying that the latter official interview with the press was unauthorized and thus did not reflect the company’s views. It further affirmed that wastewater generated from the factory “is processed properly,” and hoped that it would find the answer.

During a press briefing over mass fish deaths in the coastal provinces in Central Vietnam on April 27, 2016, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Vo Tuan Nhan failed to show evidence that links with the mass fish deaths.  This state high official said that this catastrophe “results from either the effects of a chemical toxin generated by people on land or sea and an unusual environmental phenomenon identified as red tide.” National Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha, on April 28, told reporters that although ministries and science agencies had made efforts to deal with the disaster, they were still confused. The minister apologized for slow response to this mass fish kill and took responsibility for the issue. In a way, the minister’s assertion seemed to nullify the assertions according to which some form of red tide had caused the disaster. The theory could be ruled out. Professor Le Huy Ba, former director of the Institute for Environment, Science, Technology, and Management at the Institute in Ho Chi Minh City asserted that “red tide normally happens at the end of summer. There was no change in the sea color, a sign of red tile. The toxins are chemicals or metals including chromium, nickel, mercury, or copper. They must come from industry waste.” Meanwhile hundreds of people in Quang Binh Province exposed dead fish on National Highway 1 and blocked the traffic to protest Formosa.

Protesters in major cities, Hanoi, Saigon, Da Nang, and  Vung Tau, protested against Formosa and the ways the administration handled the disaster, but all gatherings were broken up by police. On May 1, two acivists, Truong Minh Tam and Chu Pham Ngoc Son were arrested after their on-the-spot inquiry into the mass fish deaths.  Following the order of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, authorities investigated into the situation while taking measures to secure public order and political security. The administration appeared to adopt firm stance on any incitement as regards the fish deaths issue. There still remain contradictions on the cause of fish deaths. Formosa maintained that there was no link between the fish deaths and the steel mill, regardless of the existence of mile-long waste pipe running from Formosa’s facility. National Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha declared the pipe illegal and ordered Formosa to dig it up. The Prime Minister deliberately asserted the government would examine all facilities, including Formosa.  

As late as May, the administration had not released the information on the cause of massive fish kill, raising the question of whether the government had cozy relationship with Formosa. Gatherings for protests continued to grow. Authorities tightened security in Hanoi and Saigon. On Julep 5, police broke a protest against government sluggish response to mass fish kill by young people in Hanoi. In Saigon, a group of a hundred people gathered but were stopped at the first attempt of rally. Meanwhile, residents in the areas affected by fish deaths voiced increasing frustration about job losses and lack of income for “having no sea to live on.” The administration planned to provide each family affected by the disaster with 49 pounds of rice per month.

On June, 30, in a video clip projected during a press conference in Hanoi, Chen Yuan Cheng, chairman of Ha Tinh Formosa, apologized for the toxic chemicals discharged from the steel plant in Vung Angt that caused fish deaths. Mai Tien Dung, Head of the Government Office, told the news conference that Formosa would pay $500 million to compensate the affected people, clean up the environment, and help fishermen to find new jobs. On July 4, Vice-minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vo Minh Tah declared that the ministry would cooperate with the Labor, Invalids, and bad Social Works Ministry on vocational programs to help fishermen to transfer to other jobs. The plan would also entail loans for them to find work abroad. 

In agony, local fishermen voiced anguish, complaining that it was difficult for them to change job. They couldn’t work in the forest; neither could they do farming. The best way for the administration is to clean up the sea so that fishermen can do their jobs. Observer’s ne maintained that the sum of compensation that Formosa offered was not sufficient enough to compensate for the losses millions of people who live along the coast suffer. It is just a small part at the beginning. There should be a legal action to assess all damages. Civil society groups maintained that Formosa and the administration failed to address the question of how the disaster happened, and whether State officials abetted Formosa’s skirting of environmental rules and standards. Some even contended that the 500 million compensation package was too little; others feared that it would be pocketed by corrupt officials. They quickly accepted Formosa the 500 million packages without deeper investigation. In an assigned statement, more than twenty civil society groups, political activists, and religious organizations criticized the administration’s handling of the crisis, accusing it of lenient with Formosa and demanded that State officials be held accountable for their bungled response to a solution to the crisis.

Fishermen in Quang Binh were upset. They had not been able to go to sea since the mass fish deaths in April. Additionally, a lot of fish in river farms suddenly died. Hundreds of fish farms were losing their fish. They had no other means to survive in the coming days. On July 7, thousands of Catholic parishioners in the town of Ba Don, Quang Binh Province, rallied in a protest to  demand the administration and Formosa to help fishermen who faced hardship caused by mass fish deaths. Police instantly repressed the rally, injuring two protesters and detaining one. Repression increased, and the authorities came up with no practical solution whatsoever. Formosa accepted responsibility for a chemical spill that caused mass fish deaths but the question on how to clean up the pollution that devastated the sea remained unanswered. Vo Kim Cu, who played key role in approval of the operation of Formosa in Ha Tinh blamed the company over its observance of the law and environmental protection standards. His approval of the Formosa project was in line with the regulations, and the violations were totally the business of the plant. In June, Formosa acknowledged it was responsible for the pollution that killed an estimated 115 tons of fish and pledged to pay $500 million to clean it up and compensate those affected by it. The government said in a report to the National Assembly that the disaster had harmed the livelihoods of more than 200,000 people, including 41,000 fishermen. No practical measures had been exercised, however

Having had  heard no words from the administration, on August 15, 4,000 Catholic parishioners in Ky Anh Ha Tinh Province, marched towards Ky Anh township offices to protest against the administration’ s inaction as regards the mass fish deaths and negligence over the hardship and the loss of live hood they were facing,  Most Ky Anh’s residents are fishermen. Following the mass fish deaths, they survived on support of the Church and donors. For four months, they only received each 15 kgs of rice per month.  Worse still, that rice was a kind of moth-eaten rice, and its quality was so bad that they could not eat it. The protesters were blocked and assaulted by more than 200 policemen who set up barricades and seized banners and loudspeakers. One protester was seriously beaten, and many others were injured. The protesters finally reached the township administration offices which were nevertheless closed when they arrived.  There was still no sign of support from the administration, although the villagers had little means of subsistence the coming days. 

 On August 22, National Resources and Environment Minister Tran Hong Ha declared that most beaches along the coastal provinces of  Ha Tinh, Quang Binh,  Quang Tri, and Thua Thien - Hue affected by toxic spill in April from Formosa steel plant were getting cleaner. To prove his views, the minister and other officials went for a swim in the at Cua Viet seaport in Quang Tri Province. They said that the waters in these provinces were safe for swimming. Fishermen showed distrust and questioned the government findings. Fish were still dying. People in the fisheries still could not resume their businesses. Activists did not believe the authorities. Their swimming was just a show; they had done it before.

On September 1, thousands of parishioners from Quy Hoa of the diocese of Vinh took to the street, protesting against the Formosa for having caused pollution disaster along the central coast area in the Center.  To their distress, for four months since the pollution, the authorities had come up with no solution. Fishermen had no jobs, and life was becoming increasingly miserable for them. Formosa had paid U.S. 5,000 dollars for compensation, but the authorities had not paid them. Clashes erupted between the police and the parishioners at the district’s offices. About a thousand from Phu Yen parish with banners marched on the highway from their church to fishing wharves, demanding Formosa to compensate for the losses they had suffered and clean up the pollution. The protesters also demanded Formosa to leave Vietnam because the country doesn’t need it. Plainclothes policemen reportedly stood by and made no interference. On September 26, hundreds of fishermen from Phu Yen flooded the People’s Court in Ha Tinh with lawsuits demanding Formosa to compensate losses caused by toxic pollution it released, killing of thousands of tons of fish and leaving hundreds of thousand people suffer hunger and economic difficulty. It was not until the evening that 199 cases were received.’ and there were still 340 cases to be processed. While the petitioners came forwards to file their suits, others gathered around the court building, said prayers and sang songs peacefully. The police made no motion but seemed ready to interfere with force.  

Protest became increasingly tense when, on October 2, thousands of demonstrators rallied in front of Formosa factory in Ha Tinh to mount claims over the toxic pollution and mass fish kill it caused in April. The protest particularly demanded government transparency as regards Formosa compensation for the people and to stop releasing toxic waste into the local Quyen River. The protesters wanted to talk directly to the company but no one came out. Police lined up in front of the factory, stood by, and made no intervention. On October 18, thousands of parishioners in the province of Nghe An attempted to file new lawsuits. They were blocked while they were on the way to the court in Ky Anh District. Some were harassed and taken away. The situation grew tense after that. Security police warned with threats against car drivers who would bring the protesters to the court building. While local authorities intended to stop mass fling lawsuits, parishioners came even in larger groups. Unrest over Formosa compensation for the toxic spill from the steel mill continued. On December I, about 2,000 fishermen from Quang Binh Province rallied at Xuan Hoa Hamlet, protesting the government’s slow payout from the $500 million U.S. dollars for compensation by Formosa.    

During a meeting with fishermen of Ky Anh District, Ha Tinh Province on December 7,  in response to the questions on the licensing process that allowed the plant to operate and  the compensation agreed to by the administration and Formosa, Environmental and Resources Minister Tran Hong Ha assured the fishermen that licensing granted to Formosa complied with the law and that anything related to Formosa’s operations were under the Ministry’s watch including the soil and sea environment and compensation. He promised that money would be released later to cover vocational training and low-interest loans so that fishermen could buy bigger boats to fish at sea. The Minister came up with no practical solution, however.

On October 11, a thousand villagers from Thach Hao, Ha Tinh Province, submitted a petition to the local People’s council complaining that the amount of compensation given to them was not enough to cover losses they had suffered. The petition came two days after 300 people from Thach Lac Village, Thach Ha District gathered in front of the village’s People’s Council demanding explanation for an act of violence by a security agent. Chaos reportedly happened while the authorities and the villagers were in session to assess losses and prepare procedure for issuing compensation payments. A group of villagers rushed into the office and asked about their eligibility for receiving compensation payments. Chaos was foreseen to spread in the days to come.    

Properties Claims

     Quang Binh

      Bo Trach District

      

On September 21, 2009, the People’s Council of Bo Trach, Quang Bunh Province, by an administrative decision, officially ordered the pastor and the Catholic congregation of Bau Sen, Chay Parish, to take down the statue of the Dame La Vang that the parish had erected in March 2008. The parish refused to comply with the order. On November 5, with tow trucks, security police came to place to voluntarily take down the statue. The parishioners opposed in vain in face of a force of more than 500 policemen, servicemen, and civil guards.  Under the direction of the vice-chairman of the People’s Council of Bo Trach District Tran Thanh Van, the statue was in a moment taken down and placed in front of the parish’s cathedral.

     Dong Hoi Township

     The Tam Toa Incident

In 1954 when the country was partitioned into two regions by the Geneva Accords, almost all parishioners of Tam Toa, Dong Hoi Township, moved to Da Nang, a city south of the Seventeenth Parallel under the administration of the Republic of Vietnam. After the war, the people in the township gradually stabilized their living. Dong Hoi relived with mass immigration of old native residents from various parts of the country returning to their hometown. There still stood among large ruins a cathedral on Nguyen Du Street on the bank Nhat Le River. A signboard in full sigh read: “Evidence of Crime by the American Imperialists.” That was the site where the old Cathedral of Tam Toa still lay in ruins.

In an effort to rehabilitee the parish of Tam Toa, the clergy and parishioners sought support from the Hue and Vinh dioceses and the civil authorities of Dong Hoi. In a proposal, that asked the local authorities to allow them to reconstruct the parish compound at the Tam Toa Cathedral site, being almost completely destroyed by American bombs in 1958. All were then in ruins but the church facade and foundation. At the beginning, the authorities rejected the proposal under the pretext that the Catholic population in Dong Hoi was still thinly scattered. Later, the Catholic population gradually increased. There were as many as 1,000 Catholics, and a parish was formed. The authorities were then reluctant to allow the followers to celebrate Mass, but on Christmas Eve only. The parishioners had to plead for permission beside the authorities, and owing to this, they were allowed to celebrate regular Masses. And, they performed services at a private residence. As their congregation kept on growing, they asked the authorities to allow them to prom Masses on the floor of the old cathedral.  No inconvenience occurred. The Bishop and the priest representing the diocese of Vinh came to celebrate Masses there several times. The authorities of Quang Binh, without notice, suspended these activities, maintaining that the site is a war relic, and no activities could be performed on it. The diocese should choose any another site. If they wished, they would be granted the most appropriate land. The diocese of Vinh, on the other side, found it appropriate to celebrate Masses at the site. The said prelacy repeatedly sent to the civil authorities requests for permission. They were allowed to choose one among five plots of land for reestablishing a new worship place. Nevertheless, all these locations are separate and located in distant areas very far from the township, and thus creating obstacles to the Church to build a cathedral that serve a congregation living from afar.

       

A small barrack without walls covered with corrugated sheets was raised on the foundation of the old cathedral. It sheltered a Crucifix and an altar for Mass services. At 9:00A. M. of July 20, 2009, while the parishioners were erecting a Crucifix in the barrack the security police of Quang Binh stormed in and destroyed all articles of worship. Uniformed and plainclothes police agents with clubs and sticks disbanded the believers. Nineteen among them including an elder, women, and two children were dragged to and shoved into police vehicles. Many were injured.  A moment later, the children were released. Sources from the parish said that the parishioners only wished to have a worship place. The authorities, by contrast, attributed to them as reactionaries that voluntarily committed crimes. Repressed, the victims grieved at the authorities' brutal action. Under the pretext that the cathedral in ruins is a war relic, the authorities laid heavy hand on innocent citizens. They deliberately did it on whims and wishes. The parishioners simply honored the site; it is their cathedral. They were labeled reactionaries abetting the Americans.

    

In face of persecution, the parish of Tam Toa called on the parishioners of the diocese of Vinh for spiritual support. The authorities retaliated with threats.  On July 21, the situation grew tense.  Thugs and bad elements came in and attacked the parishioners at the worship place. On July 22, the official daily Saigon Giai Phong (Saigon Liberated) carried the news saying that Tu Hong Son, the deputy-director of the local Security Police Service announced the decision to prosecute 7 parishioners of Tam Toa on charges of causing public disorder taking place on July 20. Tension spread to the other parishes in the diocese of Vinh, Quang Binh and Nghe provinces.  The Reverend Phan Dinh Phung. Chief of Office of Vinh Diocese, according to the German news agency DPA, explained that the faithful could not hold calmness. They demanded that, until July 21, if the civil authorities did not release the seven innocent parishioners under police detention, they would take action.

     

Huong Phuong Parish

At least three parishioners were reportedly injured in a clash with local authorities at the Huong Phuong cathedral, Quang Binh Province on April 6, 2016. The motive that led to the altercation was unclear. Local priest Le Nam Cao  said that he was informed of the crackdown, which took place at noon when most parishioners were at work, and only old women and children were at home. The priest advised his parishioners to go home. Some of them still resisted police violence and fought back. Police and troopers equipped with guns, tear gas, and clubs opened fire near the church and used tear gas and clubs to disband the parishioners. Several were arrested and taken into custody. The injured were brought to and treated in the hospital. The priest also explained that this was not the first time local authorities had clashed with the parishioners. Huong Phuong, in fact, has suffered oppression quite some time.  For years, the parishioners showed resistance in recent years and spoke out their aspirations.  The authorities nevertheless ignored requests. They oftentimes sent troopers to the parish under the pretext that they guarded it against malefaction, searching for drug dealers or some bad elements for other reasons.  The priest added that most Huong Phuong parishioners are afraid of security police who seem to show hostility against Ca6holics.They create difficulties and abuse power, laying heavy had on them out of hatred and personal ill will.

Growing Tension

In communion with the parishioners of Tam Toa Parish who suffered lasting repression, on the morning of July 26, 2009, 250,000 Catholics in the diocese of Vinh, after having attended Sunday Mass, gathered in an assembly, demonstrating protest against religious repression in peace. The authorities of Quang Binh executed tight control. Police blocked 500 parishioners from coming to Tam Toa. Three of them were arrested. The following day, two Catholic priests who came on a visit to Tam Toa were assaulted and seriously injured by thugs. In the evening of July 28, a troop of traffic police with coats of mail and a group of plainclothes police surrounded the Tam Toa Cathedral and the surrounding area. On July 30, the parishioners in the area were barred from leaving home and kept under constant watch. Traffic circulation on crossroads from Ba Don to Dong Hoi Township was forbidden. Movement about the parish was placed under strict control.

    

On July 30, the authorities of Quang Binh freed from detention two of seven parishioners of Tam Toa, Hoang thi Ty (female) and Mai Xuan Thu, who had been arrested on charges of causing public disorder ten days previously. The rest were released by the end of the first week of August. Tension persisted. The life of the parishioners of Tam Toa was in jeopardy, however. They were impeded with deprivation of books of holy chants. Suppression followed repression. Parishioners who dared go to church to serve faith at the temporary chapel faced violence. In spite of threats, parishioners kept on practicing religious worship without fear, attending regular Sunday Mass, The religious life worsened, nevertheless. The number of churchgoers diminished as a result of perplexity. Division between fellow believers surged. Neighbors spied on one another. Some became victims of hatred, and threatened by violence of thugs. The authorities applied stricter measures of suppression and control.  To stop the parishioners to frequent the Church site, the authorities had a fence raised around the floor of the old Tam Toa Cathedral. A flower garden was arranged near the war relic. Another fence surrounded the whole site. Still, an invisible fence of suspicion, discrimination, and hatred pervaded, inhibiting concerned parties of believers from various walks of life to come to contemplate the historical religious site. Hatred and fear that for many years people had forcibly dissipated began to reappear.

Properties Claims

Da Nang

    The Con Dau Incident

On May 4, 2010, the local police of Cam Le ferociously assaulted on order he attendants of the funeral of the female parishioner Ho Nhu of Con Dau Parish, Da Nang. They even arrested more than 60 people who were then detained at the security police headquarters of Cam Le District. Those who were injured during the assault were not permitted to go to the hospital for medical treatment. At 9:00 P.M. of the following day, the security police of Cam Le released 11 people without explanation. On May 6, the spokeswoman of the Vietnam Foreign Affairs Ministry, Nguyen Phuong Nga, rejected the news about the incident, saying that the police had not assaulted the parishioners of Con Dau and that this was mere fabrication from a vile scheme to denigrate Vietnam.

  

According to sources, before the funeral, the administration had forbidden the defect’s relatives to proceed with the funeral procession and burial of the deceases at Con Dau cemetery because Con Dau Commune lies within the area to be cleared for the city’s plan of creation for a tourist center and the city’s new ecological environment. The defect’s family members and the religious community of Con Dau were not in agreement with the authorities’ decision. The administration arbitrarily did that without consent of the people to the project, and thus they refused to comply with   security police’ order.  The police quickly disbanded the funeral procession, brought the coffin away, and buried it in another cemetery, 20 kilometers from Con Dau.      

   

The dispute over land between the State and the people in general took place elsewhere in the country. In the sphere of religions, it takes a form of a fight for land claim between the secular power on one side and the Church on the opposite. The State holds the firm principle according to which “the Party is the leader, the State is the manager, and the people are the master.” Concerning land property, in particular, the State is not the proprietor; it is the manager that administers it. The people are the master of land property but not the proprietor. There is no private ownership whatsoever under the constitutional law of present-day Vietnam. The State is the only “legal person” that is entitled to jurisdiction over land. The Church is not entitled to any legal entity, and thus is entitled to no right whatsoever to public land. A Church is only a user of land, as any citizen. If the State needs for use for national interests, for instance, it can dispose a certain piece of land in use of a citizen with indentions. In fact, the motives for dispossession of the administration are generally unclear, and the indemnities are exceedingly low, creating unfitness and injustices. Poor citizens do not accept unfair and unjust indentations. There are now millions of people throughout the country who become the victims of unfairness and injustice of the kind, and the Church is no exception.  

The incident at Con Dau raised concerns over stricter repressive measures of the authorities. They not only intended to take away 100 ha of land of the commune but also the entire area. For a long time, the City Party Secretary of Da Nang Nguyen Ba Thanh had contrived to transform Con Dau and neighboring communes into a new ecological environment with plans to construct villas and buildings to attract foreigners to invest in the ditty development.

On May 4, the security police of Da Nang charged with crimes of causing public disorder 7 attendants of the funeral procession of Ho Nhu at Con Dau . One of them was released on bail. Six others were detained and prosecuted to stand trial before court on charges of causing public disorder and obstructing the officials' order while on duty. They are Liem  Loi, Viet, Nhan (female), Kim Huynh (female), and Lieu (female). On May 6, the Bishop of Da Nang Diocese Chau Ngoc Tri, in his ministerial letter addressed to the laity, advised the Catholic congregation of Da Nang to observe religious conduct. The dignitary appealed to the administration to remain patient and not to use violence against the citizen.  He also called on the parishioners of Con Dau, in particular, to serve faith firmly, stressing that the “shepherd is always on their side” in their fight for just cause and social justice.

      

On May 18, City Party Secretary Nguyen Ba Thanh and the Bishop of Da Nang Diocese Chau Ngoc Tri met to consider the Con Dau incident. The result came to no avail. The official journal Saigon Giai Phong (Saigon Liberated) recounted in its news report that the Party Secretary of Da Nang,

concurrently Chairman of the City People’s Council Nguyen Ba Thanh met with the Bishop of Da Nang Diocese Chau Ngoc Tri and  Catholic priests to  explain  the city' projects of  economic development and social welfare  and the quarrel between the officials and the parish of Con Dau which    the journal described as “the disorder at Con Dau.” According to the journal, Nguyen Ba Thanh specifically charged the parishioners of Con Da with "opposition to the officials' order in the clearance of the site."  Sources from the parish said that, on this occasion, the Bishop of Da Nang Diocese proposed the city to give the Diocese of Da Nang to take responsibility in the development project whereby the parishioners of Con Dau could participate in the establishment of vocational training quarters.  In this way, the citizens as awhile as well as the parishioners of Con Dau, would be better helped to change their trades and occupations. The proposal seemed to fall to deaf ears.

       

Con Dau was immersed in suffocated silence. The parishioners resisted the clearance of land and relocation of the administration. They refused to leave their beloved land on which their investors have lived for two hundred, the properties they have created for generations, and the parish they have ever cherished. On July 3, told by words of mouth that the security police had beaten to death Nguyen Thanh Nam, a helpmate in the funeral procession of the 93-year-old Ho Nhu. On July 4, he is said to have run away out of fear, being convoked to the police station for interrogation. He was chased after, got caught, and severely injured by the security police. He died, black-and-blue wounds over the body, vomiting blood, and blood oozed from the ear, after returning home. The victim could only ask fellow parishioners to pray for the defunct. 

   

Sources said Nguyen Thanh Nam was among many parishioners who had been beaten in the funeral procession by the security police. The parish was shrouded in fear. This security forces surrounded, blockaded, and repressed the funeral attendants. It arrested and brought to the police station as many as 60 parishioners but detained 11 afterwards. Nevertheless, they continued to search for those attendants that had resisted their order. Many were convoked to and beaten during interrogation at the police station, and warned others with threats if they sought to have contact with foreign mass media.

        

Confusion reigned over Con Dau.  The parishioners were closely trailed wherever they went. They dared not talk to strangers about the death of Nguyen Thanh Nam. The Section of Religious Affairs of Da Nang contended that Nguyen Thanh Nam was struck by sudden heart stroke. Doubts and fear of the parishioners about the conduct of affairs pervaded. Nguyen Thi Phuong, whose husband was one of the six parishioners arrested lamented over her lamentable situation.  She could visit him only one time after three months under detention. She grieved at his deteriorating health. A man of courage, he became dumbfounded. He dared not answer when asked. He appeared to be frightened. She wondered whether he had been forced to testify during interrogation. She moaned over the disaster that fell on her family. Her husband was arrested for investigation without a reason.

     

The authorities of Con Dau tightened control on the parishioners. Police continued to search for the parishioners they thought to be the key instigators of the disorder. Many of them were cornered to the wall and sought to evade the country. From the beginning of May, a group of parishioners of Con Dau had sought refuge in Thailand. Nevertheless, it was not until August 22 that they dared raise their voice about their miserable situation for fear of misfortunes that might happen to their families in Vietnam.  Police raids  intensified fears of those parishioners who fled the parish following the clash with the police in May. About 40 of the parishioners fled to Thailand via Laos, and their families were targeted with intimidation. The authorities maintained that the Con Dau clash was "unrelated to religion." The Foreign Ministry of Vietnam would object any decision by the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees to grant refugee status to the parishioners.     

The dispute over land between the State and Con Dau Parish shouldered. On August 26, 2011, 150 households of Con Dau Parish sent a letter of claims for justice to Bishop Nguyen Thai Hop, asking the dignitary to save the Catholic followers from difficulty. They were forced to leave their birthplace in different forms of repression by the authorities of Da Nang.  Tension was such that it created fear and anxiety among the faithful of the parish. Their only aspired to live the religious life in peace. Nevertheless, since the outset of the land eviction they had ever lived under threat. Petitions came to no answer. Con Dau is a Catholic parish where religious traditions are handed down from one generation to another. It is well known with solid ancestral Catholic legacy for more than 135 years. The removal of the parish graveyard and all the households around the Con Dau cathedral only serves an evil purpose, eliminating the parish for the interests of the cupid powerful. It is an act of injustice --to transform a religious historic site into a market center for profits. Nowhere else in the country is there a Catholic parish that suffers such a misfortune.

The petitioners were convoked “to work with” the authorities at their office. More than half of the 400 households of Con Dau, due to difficulties they had faced, had to give in and leave to another place. In reality, the victims had repeatedly sent their petitions to the Central Government for intervention, and no rescue came to avail, nevertheless. The Bishop of Vinh Diocese  Nguyen Thai Hop, Chairman of the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference said in an interview with the RFA that there were then unjustified points concerning the prices for compensation and the policy of land dispossession of the State. 

    

During mid-March 2012, the parishioners of Con Dau received notice from the chairman of the People’s Council of Cam Le District Vo Van Thuong informing that the order for land eviction would be executed within two weeks.  The Con Dau Parish lived in constant threat and fear. It truly faced elimination from the geographical map of Quang Nam - Da Nang Province.  A year after the issuance of the order, beginning in March 2013, and the authorities renewed inspection operations. Agents came in every household, searched the house, and forced the householder to receive redemption for eviction. Forced eviction would be carried out, regardless of whether or not the householder agreed to accept the redemption.  Parishioners had the least hope to keep their ancestral land and the centuries-old cathedral with all loving memories generations settlers on Con Dau have hold dear. 

 Thua Thien--Hue

       Thien An Monastery

In Hue, the dispute over land between the authorities and   Benedictines drags on without a solution. The Order of Benedictines is in possession of a picturesque side on which stand an ancient monastery and dependent facilities. Beginning in 2000, the authorities of Thua Thien-Hue issued administrative order to requisition the land. On April 27, 2000, the Benedictines of Thien An Monastery incidentally learned  from verbal notice that the People’s Council of the district of Huong Thuy would requisition 495,929 square meters of land of the monastery and lease it to the Service of Tourism of Hue to construct on it a public leisure center.

The requisition raised anxiety over not only the fate of the missionaries but also the religious worship in general among the Catholic clergy in the Thua Thien-Hue Province. Thirty-seven priests in the province expressed their empathy and support for the Benedictines, who were being flayed of their land. The authorities, as always, didn't reconsider their decision. The appropriation of a large section of land of the monastery is vital to the city. A tourist center will bring forth a source of interests to the "Service of tourism of the ancient capital."   Being warned of the decision on land confiscation, the Benedictines expeditiously sent petitions to the higher authorities.  They Benedictines particularly claimed their rights to ownership based on irrefutable titles of property, the ones that had been recognized by the new revolutionary authorities immediately after the change of political regime in 1975. They added that, by taking away their land, the authorities deprived of them their sole means of subsistence, working and living on it. On the land confiscated “are found, in effect, orange trees of great quality of the region, a fruit garden, and meadows breeding a herd of cattle of 28 heads. The monks in residence are frustrated at the loss of the land that they have entirely created with hard labor.” A special petition, signed by the superior of the monastery, Mgrs. Etienne Huynh Quang Sanh, was sent to the Prime Minister, on March 30, 2001. In it, the dignitary complained of the arrogance of the local authorities and the violation of the law they had committed, specifying that the Service of Bridges and Roads unlawfully opened public road into and across the land of the monastery.  There was total silence. In May 2000. The dignitary sent a petition to competent authorities of the Thua Thien - Hue province, requesting interference. The petition came to no response. The Service for Bridges and Roads of Hue province, in favor of dark night, got down to work, to construct in hiding a public park as planned.

Facing impermeable indifference to their complaints, the Benedictines sent report to the central administration.  Included in it was a file with land titles and legal documents. Perceiving that their report could be blocked at the postal office in Hue, they sent at the same time a report to the representatives in Hanoi to request an audience with the Prime Minister. Their file was then transferred to the Commission of Inquest within the Bureau of Land Property. Several days later, the officials of the said agency came to make an on-the-spot inquiry into the situation, verifying the land titles and legal documents of which the Benedictines were in possession and which they used as proofs of their right to ownership of the land in question. Nevertheless, the inquest came to no action.

    

In February 2001, the dispute became increasingly tense. Two officials of the Service of Bridges and Roads came to the monastery and informed the Benedictines that they were commissioned by the Service of Tourism to open a road through the land of the monastery. They asked the Benedictines if they had any objection. The Benedictines replied that they had already expressed their disagreement and that they refused to give away their land or receive any financial amends. The officials of the Survive of Bridges and Roads proceeded with their task, nevertheless. A team of workers proceeded with construction work on the land of the monastery. This measure was, to the Benedictines, a violation of the Order of the government on land requisition. The authorities overtly violated Article 27 of the said law. This law foresees that the confiscation of land is applied in the case the land confiscated is used for the interests of national defense and security or economy, and not for the creation of a center for leisure. The construction on the Benedictines' property, thereby, is an act of blatant abuse of power. Besides, the existence of a center for leisure on the site of a religious emplacement is apparently uncivil, causing nuisance and problem to a religious community that is in need of serenity, peace, and seclusion.  

On April 29, 2001, thirty-seven priests of the diocese of Hue, in a letter to the Superior of the Benedictines Order, expressed support for the monastery. They also showed empathy and solidarity with the superior and the months in their efforts to defense their religious worship rights and life. The priests pronounced that they had sent petitions to diverse competent civil authorities in favor of the Benedictines community. On July 11, 2001, another group of priests of Hue declared that the oppression of the authorities against Thien An Monastery was blatant. Such an act not only trespasses upon the physical property of the monastery but also the spiritual life of the Catholic laity of Hue. In effect, it is thanks to divine favor and the labor of the Benedictines that the hill covered with pines can stand and makes Hue more picturesque scenery. The site has become not only a source of inspiration for poets and writers but also an emplacement where everyone can come and relax free of cost.  

  

Quarrel resumed.  On September 24, 2001, the work team at the Thuy Tien Lake intimidated with violence a group of monks of the monastery who tried to prevent the workers from intruding their land. By doing this, the monks would only show their will to protect their property. They asked the workers to attest their legal permission of any kind, the work contract or the State authorization to work on the land of the monastery. The foam could not produce a piece of legal papers. The monks insisted that the land was theirs and that the team was not permitted by rights to intrude into  it. The workers were thus asked to stop their work. They team, however, declared that they would go ahead with installation of an electric post and that they did not need to know who the proprietor of the land was. The television of Hue aired during many days reports on the incident. The Benedictines were portrayed as "bad element," and the population was advised to stay away from the place

On their part, the Benedictines of Thien An announced that they would do anything they could to protect their rights and property. In the petition to the People’s Council of Thua Thien- Hue, the Benedictines declared to preserve the rights to live in the territory of which they are undeniably the legitimate proprietor. They are unlawfully stripped off the right to use the land on which they live.  In fact, the authorities showed all intents to dispossess their land. Already, in 1999, the authority had foreseen the confiscation of 495,929 m2 of land of Thien An Hill. They had pleaded their case in vain before the provincial authorities.

To show good will, the Benedictines, on July 29, 2002, sent a proposal to the local authorities in which the religious community presented their wish to retain the pine-wood section surrounding the inner buildings of the monastery, just to draw from the entire territory a space large enough for religious contemplation. The proposal came to no response, however. On October 9, 2002, the authorities executed the decision No 577/QD-XKT, fleecing the monks from their land confiscated, in spite of the Benedictines’ resistance.

After more than a decade following the eviction of the Benedictines from their land, the authorities of Thua Thien-Hue, on January 1, 2015, prevented them from placing a roof over an outdoor shrine honoring the Virgin Mary on the pretext that the monastery was violating the law. In reality, on an intent of grabbing the pine forest,  a forest rangers checkpoint was set up to monitor the monastery’s  activities and at the same time proceed with their plan --to seize the monastery’s hundred acres of land for the construction of a leisure center and amusement park. To begin with, they took down a cross on the hill and placed a pole on the monastery’s grounds, making it a mark of restriction. Police even stopped the monks in residence from building an in-road to the place. On June 27, 2016, the monastery’s head monk Nguyen Van Duc sent petitions to the provincial People’s Council, the Catholic Archdiocese in Hue, the European Union Embassy in Vietnam, and the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, complain about the authorities’ disrespect of the religious worship and illegal appropriation of land. Their claims for properties dragged on without an echo.

     An Bang  

The Altar for the Cross built in a plot of land of 600m2 at Ap Bac became the cause of conflict over land between the authorities at An Bang Parish, Vinh An Commune, Phu Vang District. The Reverend Nguyen Huu Giai and the parishioners firmly maintained that they had done nothing wrong with the parish construction of the Altar for the Cross for religious worship.  The communal authorities, on the contrary, considered the erection of an alter without authorization from the administration is in violation of the law. The construction must be removed. In fact, in 2007, Le Tuan, an An Bang parishioner, offered his private piece of ancestral land to the parish for this purpose. A show of veneration like this has nothing to do with public order or security. Moreover, the parishioners had three times applied for authorization beside the local authorities. But the applications came to no answer. They practically proceeded with their work as required by the law: if there is no opinion from the authorities after 30 days of the application, authorization is automatically granted. Considering this an act of opposition, the  authorities resolutely executed the land eviction, forcing with threat the parishioner to take down the Cross as it  was built on the people’s property. The State is the manager and decides on who can be the user of it. Moreover, the piece of land in question is preserved for a State multipurpose plan of development, which fact the parishioners resiliently oppose. The reason behind the land eviction is irrelevant and unjustifiable. The conflict thus dragged on without a solution.