Authorities in the capital city are taking measures to restore security and order in Đồng Tâm Commune after a controversial land reclamation led to several officials and police officers being held hostage by residents last week. — Photo plo.vn

HÀ NỘI – Authorities in the capital city are taking measures to restore security and order in Đồng Tâm Commune after a controversial land reclamation led to several officials and police officers being held hostage by residents last week.

A Vietnam News Agency report also said yesterday that the land in dispute, measuring 50.03 hectares in the Mỹ Lương, Trần Phú and Đồng Lạc communes of Chương Mỹ District and Đồng Tâm Commune in Mỹ Đức District, was allocated in 1980s to the Ministry of Defence to build the Miếu Môn airport.
However, lax management of the local administration had led to a number of residents in Hoành Village, Đồng Tâm Commune, trespassing on the military-managed land.

The residents built houses and farmed the land, the report said.

It also said that since October 2014, the entire area has been used by the Air Force Service as the base of Brigade 28.
Under Decision 551/QD-TM dated March 27, 2015, the Ministry of Defence recovered the land, including 46 hectares in Đồng Tâm Commune, and allocated it to the military-run telecom group Viettel for implementing the “AI defence project.”
When the Defence Ministry reclaimed the land, many residents lodged complaints with district and city agencies.

The administration of Mỹ Đức District has been talking with Hà Nội officials to settle the issue, but the residents failed to abide by the regulations, the VNA report said.
It said the Mỹ Đức District People’s Committee sent five interdisciplinary working groups to work with each household, but the locals refused to sign a document committing not to trespass upon military land.
Since late 2016, the situation in Đồng Tâm has been “complicated” mostly due to efforts by locals to retrieve their land lots that the authorized agencies of Mỹ Đức District, Hà Nội administration and the Ministry of Defence have identified as military land, the report said.
The residents organised various activities causing disorder in the locality, especially after the Viettel Group received the area to implement its project.
The VNA report said that the Hà Nội Police and Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Defence and other relevant agencies have gathered documents and evidence relating to the organised violations.

It said authorities saw these violations as serious breaches, negatively affecting local security and social order, and disrupting normal operation of local agencies, enterprises and schools.
On March 30, 2017, the Hà Nội Police started legal proceedings in the case, charging some people with “causing public disorder” under Article 245 of the 1999 Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, the Crime Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Defence launched proceedings for “resisting on-duty officials” and “violating regulations on land use” in line with Article 257 and Article 173, respectively, of the Criminal Code.
The Hà Nội Police Department summoned the defendants three times, but they did not show up and continued their protests.
Last Saturday, Hà Nội police arrested four alleged violators to investigate the case on “causing public disorder,” but their vehicles were seized and damaged, and 38 city policemen and officials of Mỹ Đức were illegally apprehended.
Municipal leaders visited the locality and explained to the locals that their actions were illegal and requested them to release the captured officials and police officers.
The city also sent two working groups to the commune to work with the locals, who, however, did not co-operate and even threw sand and rocks at the officials, injuring some of them.
Yesterday, four citizens arrested on Saturday were released as they showed signs of repentance, the VNA report said.
Meanwhile, 15 of the apprehended officials and policemen were released by the locals and three other officials managed to escape.
The VNA report said that the land in Đồng Tâm Commune was under the management of the military and used by the Ministry of Defence.

Project AI is a major project extremely important to the defence and security of the army and the country, the report said.
It said that alongside measures being taken to guarantee security and social order in Đồng Tâm Commune, those those engaged in violating the law since the beginning of the year would be strictly punished in line with law. — VNS