Land protest in Vietnam set to enter second week

Hanoi - Hundreds of Vietnamese demonstrators are entering their second week of land protests in Ho Chi Minh City, supporters and a government official said Friday. The farmers from seven southern provinces are protesting a decision by their local officials to appropriate land they were living and working on for development.

Supporters in the overseas Vietnamese community said the protests have grown to 1,000 people.

However, Pham Thi Phuong Lien, chief administrator of the National Assembly office where the demonstrations have been held, estimated the number at just more than 200.

"The protestors want to use their demonstration as pressure on the provincial and local authorities to solve their land rights issues that were not properly handled by the authorities," Lien said.

Lien said the government has sent inspectors headed by Mai Quoc Binh, deputy chief of the Government Inspectorate, to hear the people's petitions.

Radio New Horizon, a station run by the overseas Vietnamese group Viet Tan, has reported demonstrators being followed and harassed by plainclothes police. Lien, however, insisted police were only there to ensure security for the demonstrators.

Small protests complaining of unjust land seizures have become commonplace in Vietnam with many demonstrators alleging corrupt officials are pocketing money from developers but underpaying farmers for the land they lost.

It is unusual for protests to last longer than a few days.