A midnight operation to remove protest banners has ignited outrage in Hà Nội’s Hồng Hà Ward, escalating tensions between local residents and authorities over the massive Red River Landscape Boulevard project.
The Latest: Residents of Tứ Liên in Hồng Hà Ward, Hà Nội, protested outside the local People’s Committee headquarters late on June 18. The demonstration occurred after locals circulated a video showing personnel in local security uniforms removing residents’ banners.
The residents gathered to file complaints and demand that authorities “clarify” the overnight removal of their property.
Video Details: The incident escalated after a circulating video showed two men in local security uniforms removing the banners.
- In the video, the person filming repeatedly asked, “What are you doing? Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you allowed to remove these banners?”
- The men remained silent, wore face masks, and left with the banners they had taken down. During the night, many residents gathered at the ward office to protest this behavior.
Resident Backlash: According to a video posted in the Facebook group “Residents of the Red River Landscape Boulevard Project — 200,000 households,” one protester stated that between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on June 18, “three officials on two vehicles, wearing local security uniforms, tore down residents’ banners” near Alley 28 and the kumquat garden of Tứ Liên’s traditional craft village.
On the morning of June 19, a “complaint letter” addressed to the Hồng Hà Ward People’s Committee and police by Tứ Liên residents was shared on social media.
- According to the letter, two men wearing grassroots security and public order uniforms rode a Wave Alpha motorbike and a VinFast electric motorbike, with license plates 29F1-391.61 and 29F1-632.81, and “removed banners along Đê Quai Road.”
- When residents subsequently went to the ward police headquarters to report the incident, they saw the electric motorbike with plate number 29F1-632.81 parked there, with residents’ petition banners still on the vehicle.
Consequently, Tứ Liên residents asked ward police to “clarify this matter so people can know who violated our citizens’ rights” and requested that “similar incidents not occur again in Tứ Liên in particular and Hồng Hà in general.”
The Background: Since early May 2026, Hà Nội authorities have agreed to relocate households to serve the Red River Landscape Boulevard project.
- Following this decision, banners bearing messages such as “Residents of [X] village firmly petition all levels of government to consider the people’s concerns and wishes […]” have appeared widely on social media and throughout local neighborhoods.
- Hanging banners and placards expressing the wish to “preserve existing residential communities” or “oppose blanket clearance” has been one of the peaceful advocacy methods used by Hà Nội residents to urge city authorities to consider public opinion.
Why It Matters: In recent weeks, Hà Nội authorities have repeatedly threatened residents and demanded that they remove those banners and placards.
- On May 27, Bồ Đề Ward threatened to conduct “direct persuasion” if residents did not “voluntarily” take down their banners.
- Furthermore, since early June, many residents in social media groups related to the Red River project have reported being asked by local authorities to remove banners, including residents of Phú Thượng and Nghi Tàm in Hồng Hà Ward.
Hoàng Nam wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 19, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
