Trinh Anh Tuan, a Hanoi-based environmental activist has
been brutally attacked by plainclothes agents, with a number of severe injuries
in his hands and head, according to local social network.
Mr. Tuan, an admin member of a For Green Hanoi, a
campaign to protest the city’s plan to chop down 6,700 healthy aged trees, was
attacked by a group of three thugs near his rent house in Long Bien district in
early morning of April 22.
Tuan, who is very active in organizing peaceful
demonstrations in Hanoi in recent weeks which aim to demand the city’s
authorities to stop its massive cutting of healthy trees in the city’s main
streets, recognized the attackers as policemen who have been following him for
months.
“When I rode my motorbike to the nearby market to buy milk
for my baby, they came and kicked my vehicle. When I fell on the road, they
jumped and attacked me. One event took a brick and attacked my head, causing
bleeding,” Mr. Tuan said.
This is the second time Tuan was assailed by thugs. In
late March last year, he was also brutally attacked by plainclothes agents
after participating in a cafe-meeting of Hanoi-based members of the Vietnamese
Blogger Network, a social network which fights for freedom of expression in the
communist nation.
Meanwhile, Hanoi’s environmentalists have held five
consecutive demonstrations in the city’s center on Sundays in March and April
despite numerous measures applied by local authorities which aim to prevent
growing public discontent on the city’s plan which would turn the city into
desert.
Along with harassing leading activists, local authorities
have also summoned others to police stations, accusing them of causing public
disorders. Police have also blocked a number of activists from going out during
weekends.
Police have also pressured activists’ families and
relatives, and asked them not to participate in peaceful demonstrations in
coming weeks.
Hanoi’s massive tree cutting has met strong protests by
local residents and others nationwide.
The city’s People’s Committee has a plan to chop down
6,700 healthy aged trees and replace with young ones with total spending of
VND270 trillion ($12.5 billion) for the 2015-2020 period.
So far, they have cut 2,000 trees; most of them are
valuable and planted by French more than 100 years ago.
Trinh Anh Tuan (aka. Gio Lang Thang - Wandering Wind) with his head and hand wounds.
The photographer asked to remain anonymous for fear of political repression.
The photographer asked to remain anonymous for fear of political repression.