The $29 billion megaproject threatens to displace hundreds of thousands in Hà Nội.
The Latest: Residents living along the Red River floodplain in Hà Nội are reporting ongoing efforts by local authorities and project investors to force the removal of protest banners.
- In recent days, multiple social media accounts within local residential groups have shared articles, images, and videos documenting these encounters, while residents continue to call for more banners to be hung.
The Details: In the Facebook group “Đại Lộ Sông Hồng – Thành Phố Sông Hồng; Hồ Tây – Hội Cư dân Hà Nội”—which hosts more than 29,000 members—one prominent post featured a video showing police removing banners in Phú Thượng Ward, formerly part of Tây Hồ District.
- In the footage, the police stated they were acting at the request of the ward People’s Committee. The police eventually put the banners back up after residents objected and explained that hanging the signs did not violate the law.
- The post quickly garnered more than 1,000 reactions, alongside hundreds of shares and comments.
Another account reported that the project investor “is always trying to send people to rip down the banners.”
- The user added that “when residents catch them during the day and they cannot remove them, they sneak around at night.”
- The account stressed that the banners are “very important” because they “make the investor restless,” whereas official petitions “will just be thrown in the trash.”
- The user urged the community to “stand together and hang them up as large as possible to make our voices heard.”
This post also included a video of residents confronting an individual who claimed to be part of a working group instructed to approach residents at night. According to the account, the individual admitted under questioning that he was acting under the investor’s order to “quiet the village.”
So far, neither the investor nor state agencies have confirmed that personnel were sent to take down the banners.
Another user wrote: “Nghi Tàm and Hồng Hà continue to hang banners. We, the people, continue to petition to keep our existing residential communities intact and oppose the taking of our land for the project. Please do not send ward officials to residents’ homes to intimidate people, demand that they remove their banners, and then call that propaganda work.”
- The individual asserted that hanging banners is “a legitimate right of the people to protect their personal property.”
Several other accounts also shared posts about being asked to remove banners and called on others to continue hanging them “quickly and strongly.”
The Background: Residents in the areas slated for the Red River Landscape Boulevard project have engaged in a series of actions to oppose the investment policies. The most visible tactic has been the display of slogans demanding fair compensation, the preservation of existing villages, and an end to total clearance plans.
In late May 2026, residents of the ancient village of Thúy Lĩnh in Lĩnh Nam Ward took turns staying awake to hang banners demanding the preservation of their thousand-year-old village.
Simultaneous banner campaigns occurred across other communes and wards.
By early June 2026, residents began posting warnings about authorities’ efforts to discourage the banners, sharing guidance on how to counter removal requests.
Residents defend their actions on three specific grounds:
- First, the banners do not contain “inciting or anti-state language,” but merely express community concerns;
- Second, the banners are hung neatly without obstructing traffic or disrupting public order;
- Third, the act of hanging banners is a lawful right of citizens.
Affected residents have also repeatedly submitted petitions, open letters, personal appeals, and public pleas to oppose total clearance.
Why It Matters: The unrest stems from the May 11, 2026, decision by the Hà Nội People’s Council, which approved the investment policy for the Red River Landscape Boulevard project with 100 percent of attending delegates voting in favor.
The massive infrastructure initiative will carve through 16 communes and wards, utilizing approximately 11,418 hectares of land. It requires a preliminary investment of about 736.963 trillion đồng, or $28 billion, and is expected to affect more than 200,000 residents.
As of March 24, Hà Nội authorities had received more than 8,300 comments from local communities. The overwhelming majority of these submissions warned that relocating densely populated areas would disrupt local livelihoods and destabilize social welfare.
Despite these concerns, on June 11, the Hà Nội Party Committee issued a directive stating that most residents had shown “high consensus” for the project. The committee claimed that only a number of “individual groups had not agreed” and were engaging in “large gatherings and the hanging of banners and slogans, posing potential risks of complicated developments in security and public order.”
This official statement sparked immediate anger among the affected residents.
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 16, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
