http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061229/wl_as...nd_061229071438

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnamese authorities have cordoned off a Hanoi neighbourhood and demolished a row of buildings housing 1,000 people, a day after residents protested against their eviction.

Earth-moving equipment tore down the shops and houses as residents scrambled to salvage what goods and furniture they could under the watchful eye of uniformed and plain-clothes security forces.

Hanoi authorities, who said the 130 households were squatting without legal title to the properties, moved in the previous evening and told locals to save what they could.

Land disputes have become a frequent source of tension in Vietnam, as city dwellers and farmers have had to make way for new infrastructure and industrial buildings in the densily populated and economically booming nation.

"About 130 families with 1,000 people are being moved this morning and it is terrible," said Nguyen Mai Son, a 43-year-old soup vendor from the southwest Hanoi neighbourhood. "Most of us don't know how and where to live now."

Security forces moved into the street on Thursday afternoon and told residents to clear out and dismantle the one-storey structures, said Tran Ngoc Khanh, a 25-year-old flower vendor and mother of two.

By dawn Friday the properties, which were combined shops and houses, had been emptied, doors and fittings ripped out and many walls demolished.

Dazed and crying residents looked at the shells of their former businesses and homes in the rubble-strewn street.

Scores of security forces closed off the Thanh Xuan district neighbourhood, and a crane demolished the empty buildings with hours. Police with megaphones and video cameras were posted to keep away outsiders.

"Police and security officials have started to destroy our houses with cranes and other equipment," said a weeping shop-owner, Nguyen Thi Thu, 38.

"We are very angry with them, but we cannot do anything.

"There is no democracy for us. We cannot oppose the state. What we can do now is stay and cry in the streets and worry about tomorrow."

Residents said six of 10 people detained Thursday for protesting the mass eviction outside the Hanoi People's Committee building remained in custody Friday, although police refused to confirm the detentions.

Police also refused to comment on the evictions.

oah, yahoo loves these kinds of news.

So what? i know the people live in these areas. They did live there without legal title to the land for quite a long time. Those houses started out as a tent selling small goods. Gradually, because not notified by the authority, they construct houses. The roads in Hanoi were quite big, it became small because of that. Not only this area, but there are some other areas as well.

They did get compensation but they say it is not enough. They have been told to move several times for road construction (actually years before). The authority needs to get tough with these people, and people in Hatay province, who are even worse. Also get tough on traffic offences, Vietnamese people need to follow the law better.

Vietnam government should be like this more often but they also need to address the fact the very low compensation money.

people in Hanoi asking about democracy? they are not happy with communism?

they're not asking for democracy, they're asking for land to live and fairer compensate money since Vietnamese government tried to build up its worsen infrastructure by clearing those illegal houseowners.

not saying they are asking FOR. i am saying they are asking ABOUT democracy. is it illegal to mention democracy in communist countries like north korea and vietnam?

uhhh it's perfectly fine to say democracy. Right now there are a buzz that wants Ho Chi Minh city/ Saigon to restructure its government by having direct election for the mayor, and the word "democracy" /dan chu is repeated many times, however, it's still considered a terrorist plot if the people criticize the Vietnamese government.

people are criticizing the goverment all the times (criticise corruptions, criticise party members not accountable to people, criticise the beaucracy structure, criticise state-owned enterprises).

but if you have intention to mobilise people against the government, then you will quickly see problem.

In the United States, the right of "eminient domain" gives the Federal, satae and local government theright to take away my property, if my property gets in the way of their development scheme.

While the Vietnamese government has the right to carry out these evictions, if done for the public good, the government has a moral obligation to help these people get back on their feet - They have every right to expect that, as Vietnamese citizens, and this is the way we expect any Vietnamese government to act.