At least two communities affected by Hà Nội’s $28 billion Red River Landscape Boulevard project have now taken to the streets.
The Latest: In recent days, residents of Hồng Hà Ward, Hà Nội, have coordinated public demonstrations to pray for peace and to ask that their land be preserved. The citizens marched together wearing matching shirts, and their activities have been widely circulated across local Facebook groups in the form of posts, photographs, and videos.
The Details: Echoing the actions of residents from the ancient Hải Bối village in Đông Anh District, Hồng Hà residents wore matching red shirts printed with slogans such as “Harmonious development must preserve residential communities,” “Petition to keep existing residential areas,” and “Planning is the future, but it must not erase history.”
- They walked towards local communal houses and pagodas to hold what they described as a “prayer ceremony for Hồng Hà Ward and Red River residents to keep their land.”
Social Media Comments: These demonstrations were heavily documented online.
On June 6, the Facebook group “Cư dân phường Hồng Hà,” which has 36,000 members, posted media of the activities with the caption:
“This morning’s prayer ceremony in my hometown of Hồng Hà — how heartbreaking for our homeland.”
The post was quickly removed, but Luật Khoa Magazine captured screenshots.
- On the same day, an account in the 29,300-member group “Đại Lộ Sông Hồng – Thành Phố Sông Hồng; Hồ Tây – Hội Cư dân Hà Nội” posted similar photos and videos. The user expressed hope that deities would protect Hồng Hà villagers from the “calamity of being blatantly robbed of their land by internal invaders.”
- The account alleged that land compensation was “cheap, only one-fifth of the market price,” contradicting official messaging, and noted that forcing people out of their homes before resettlement areas were built had left residents “extremely outraged.”
- Another account posted similar images, writing that Hồng Hà residents were attending the ceremony to pray for divine protection so they could “keep their homes, live stable and peaceful lives, and settle down securely.”
- Another account in the same group shared verses by Nguyễn Trãi: “The work of benevolence rests in bringing peace to the people. Before punishing the enemy, first remove cruelty.” The user added that stability and development can only occur when people feel secure.
On June 7, in the 46,600-member group “Dự Án Trục Đại Lộ Cảnh Quan Sông Hồng Mới Nhất,” an account posted images of residents in Đại Lan hamlet, Nam Phù Commune, holding a “ceremony to pray for national peace and public well-being” at a village tutelary god’s shrine and local cemeteries.
- The account stated that Đại Lan residents and many other communities affected by the Red River Landscape Boulevard project were carrying out “traditional cultural and spiritual activities.”
- The user added that the purpose was to pray that leaders would “make the most correct decisions in the spirit of upholding the Constitution and the law, helping tens of thousands of households live and work in peace.”
The Background: Hồng Hà is the largest inner-city ward in Hà Nội, covering more than 15.09 square kilometers and housing over 123,000 people. This area is directly affected by the Red River Landscape Boulevard project, a strategic megaproject aimed at redesigning urban space along the river and improving the quality of the city’s central urban area. Consequently, hundreds of affected residents are currently renting temporary housing because their old homes have already been cleared while resettlement areas remain unfinished.
- On May 11, 2026, the Hà Nội People’s Council unanimously approved the investment policy for the project. It will pass through 16 communes and wards, cover about 11,418 hectares of land, require a preliminary investment of approximately 736.963 trillion đồng ($28 billion), and affect about 200,000 residents.
- Compared with an earlier proposal, the new policy removed Vĩnh Tuy, Hoàng Mai, and Vĩnh Hưng wards from the project area, reducing the total preliminary investment by about 118 trillion đồng.
- On June 6, state media reported that on June 3, the Hà Nội People’s Committee officially selected a consortium of Đại Quang Minh, Trường Hải, and Hòa Phát as the project’s investor.
- This replaced a previous approval document issued in December 2025.
- Prior to this, on May 27, state media reported that the consortium (operating as Đại Quang Minh, THACO, and Hòa Phát) proposed shortening the land clearance period to 2.5 months, a move that severely angered residents.
- The Government Office issued Official Dispatch No. 4975 on May 30 to the chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee, requiring the city to properly handle public communication, compensation, support, and resettlement while ensuring residents’ rights.
- On June 2, in the Facebook group “Hội Cư dân Hà Nội – Quy hoạch Thành Phố Sông Hồng; Hồ Tây,” an account named Trà Chanh Mờ posted Official Dispatch No. 98 from the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hồng Hà Ward, which called for “strengthening public communication and mobilization to ensure security and public order in the ward during the implementation of the Red River Landscape Boulevard project.”
- The Official Dispatch asked member organizations and local front committees to focus on “public communication, mobilization, and building consensus among the people” so residents would trust the city’s development policy.
Why It Matters: Immense friction has been brewing between the municipality and its citizens.
- Hundreds of Hồng Hà residents are currently renting temporary housing because their old homes were cleared while resettlement areas remain unfinished.
- Residents have submitted urgent petitions to “clarify signs of irregularities in financial management and land use” and distributed open letters pleading for an end to sweeping clearances and demanding fair compensation.
- The protests peaked on May 31—Vesak Day 2026, or the 14th day of the fourth lunar month—when residents of Vạn Phúc village in Nam Phù Commune burned incense, released animals, and prayed for the preservation of their villages.
- Residents of the ancient Thúy Lĩnh village in Lĩnh Nam Ward have also taken turns staying awake to hang banners defending their thousand-year-old community.
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 9, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
