The people of Dong Tam were attacked, suppressed and killed by the police a few days prior to the Lunar New Year, the atmosphere of grief, depression and worry still covers the first days of the new year.
Dong Tam is a commune located about 40 km southwest of Hanoi’s center. Its current population is 2,572 households with 8,646 people.
Dong Tam commune has 2 villages named Hoanh and Dong Mit. In the photo is a peaceful scene in Dong Tam commune taken many years ago.
Dong Tam is known as a commune with a traditional heroic struggle in the anti-France resistance war. Dong Tam Commune was named Hero of the People’s Armed Forces.
However, the peaceful days of Dong Tam village are nowhere else when the village has been tormented by the oppression of the police forces which killed a local resident and detained dozens of others.
In the early days of this year, millions of people in the country and overseas compatriots are paying their attention to Dong Tam with pity for the people here, they also express their disdain and hatred for the authorities in Hanoi which killed veteran revolutionary Le Dinh Kinh who was 84 years of age and 58-year communist party membership.
Days after Le Dinh Kinh’s death, a powerful force of propaganda minions, also known as public opinion shapers, was mobilized to join the cyber war, in order to create many scenarios and images about the brutal attack in Dong Tam on January 9.
There were three attacks on this traumatic event, namely defamation and humiliation of Mr. Kinh, mourning the three policemen who died in Dong Tam, and provocating and challenging anyone on Dong Tam’s side and at the same time considering its supporters as “anti-government.”
But the truth has its power.
When the northern peach branches flourished, information from many sources said security forces were still dense in Hoanh village. The strangers who come here are gazed by the owl eyes. This is a picture of a bitter cold village in these days, people bowing silently.
The village road still has places for displaying ornamental flowers, but the hearts of people are not good. Because many local residents are held incommunicado by police.
The money contributed for Mr. Kinh’s funeral have not yet been sent to his family.
During the bloody persecution, Mr. Kinh’s house and nearby houses were destroyed, money was taken away by them. No one knows where the looting money will go.
State-run media reported on the information campaign, constantly saying that in Dong Tam village was peaceful, Dong Tam people are now happy to welcome Tet, thank the government for not having the fear of “terrorism” in the village anymore. Really, what is the current Dong Tam village?
According to land rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong, the people of Dong Tam at this time were very sad about Mr. Kinh’s death, heartbreaking because there are local residents taken away from their infants.
And the people of Dong Tam were also heartbroken because they witnessed the people being tortured, tortured, and bowed to be taken to the television court. They were heartbroken because the truth was silenced, and the people of Dong Tam suddenly became criminals. A Dong Tam resident told me that, in this Dong Tam land, 9 out of every 10 people support and follow Mr. Kinh.
Mr. Phuong said, the State-run media said Dong Tam was peaceful, people were happy … it was just propaganda. At this time, Dong Tam is still full of security officers and secret agents to monitor all actions of the local people and follow anyone outside to come here to find out the true.
The press also said the people of Dong Tam lovingly mourn the dead of police soldiers. But the Dong Tam people themselves discovered and said that only a few people in Thuong Lam commune, which are adjacent communes, are also working or cooperating with the authorities.
In Dong Tam at this time, everything is very bleak, but there is no style to welcome New Year as the State media said. Many people still find ways to text outside to ask for help for the miserable condition of Dong Tam village.
The government blamed the people in Dong Tam on the death of three police officers. But even in the state’s exclusive press and television system, it is also inconsistent. Sometimes they said the police were killed by grenades, other times by petrol bombs, sometimes by falling into a pit, in other release they say the police died when protecting Mieu Mon airport (3km from Dong Tam) and sometimes they said they died when they attacked Mr. Kinh’s house …
The truth is only they know, but the people of Dong Tam could not resist in a context of intense repression and tear gas as early as January 9, 2020.
With Mr. Kinh’s house as the center, around 300-400m wide, no one can stand spicy smoke and grenades, especially young children. So most adults find a way to get them out. Many people suffocate, faint. Mr. Hieu, an old friend Kinh also fainted before being arrested.
Police arrested Fcebooker Chương May Mắn because he shared information about the attack in Dong Tam on January 9.
The police are always filming. The attack on Dong Tam village certainly had a drone with an infrared camera to record the event, seeking evidence to claim how the people of Dong Tam confront the regime in a bid to use for their propaganda.
However, up to now, they have not found any signs or images which would prove people’s violence.
While Dong Tam news spread fast last week, there were rumors that police would arrest a series of people to suppress public opinion. The home of blogger Nguyễn Anh Tuấn in Đà Nẵng is under police supervision while in Cần Thơ, Facebooker Chương May Mắn was arrested and charged with “conducting anti-state propaganda.”
Spring has come all over the homeland of Vietnam, the people at home and abroad are always looking to Dong Tam, a symbol of the courage of the Vietnamese people and the tradition of protecting their villages and their homeland from the ruling communists.
Trinh Ba Phuong, a young Vietnamese activist said that every day people witnessed more and more the regime’s crimes against Mr. Kinh and Dong Tam people … Everything is exposing the regime’s lies in every direction, they are panicked and threatened and has kept many people de facto house arrest. Police threatened to arrest him for speaking out the trust.
He said his human conscience heard the cry of mothers, the children, witnessed the tragic scenes … His human conscience could not be silent despite knowing the front is very dangerous. He said he accepted everything that happened to him, only wanted to bring everything to justice, to all Vietnamese people, and return fairness and truth to the people of Dong Tam who are unjustly treated.
Spring has come to every home, but the joy is not complete when the people of Dong Tam continue to live under the brutal suppression of the Communist Party, dozens of young people, young women and the elderly here are still held in prison.
The communist regime led by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has been cruel to the people, killing their comrade who had 58-year membership.
This series of crimes has become a stain in the country’s thousand-year history of building and defending the nation.
Hoang Trung from Hanoi – Thoibao.de (translated)
