The heated situation in the clearance zones close to Ba Đình, such as Hồng Hà, Vĩnh Hưng, Ba Vì, and Gia Bình, appears to have had no effect on the National Assembly’s agenda.
The Latest: Ten days into its year-end session, which opened on Oct. 17, the National Assembly has not addressed the wave of citizen protests against land seizures in several localities in and adjacent to Hà Nội.
- While deputies are scheduled to review and pass 47 laws and resolutions, including the amended Land Law, no official has spoken about the ongoing forced evictions and related civil unrest.
Clearance Orders and Resettlements: Residents across multiple districts are facing sudden clearance orders and, in some instances, secondary resettlements.
Residents of Vĩnh Hưng, Hà Nội, were informed of a Sun Group urban redevelopment and commercial apartment project only when it broke ground on Aug. 28.
- Since late August, residents have actively protested by hanging banners, marching, and demonstrating outside the ward People’s Committee.
Similarly, in Ba Vì Commune, Hà Nội, a Sun Group subsidiary was selected without a bidding process to invest in an eco-tourism resort.
- Residents discovered this on Sept. 28, and the project broke ground on Oct. 10 without public consultation, triggering fierce local opposition.
In the Red River Scenic Boulevard project, land seizures are concentrated in Hồng Hà Ward, one of Hà Nội’s largest inner-city wards, covering more than 15.09 square kilometers with a population exceeding 123,000. Since May, residents have repeatedly opposed the project:
- They have sent petitions and hung banners.
- They have created a nonprofit website to inform others on how to file petitions.
- They have marched together in matching shirts.
Meanwhile, in Bắc Ninh, residents of Gia Bình have already lost their homes and land over the past few months to accommodate the Gia Bình International Airport project.
- Site clearance was rushed through in half a year without reasonable compensation or resettlement plans, forcing many families to manage entirely on their own.
Media Blackout: Despite the scale of these protests across Hà Nội’s clearance zones and Bắc Ninh, citizen objections have not appeared in state media coverage.
Why It Matters: As the National Assembly deputies remain silent on the ground-level protests, they are debating a new version of the Land Law. If passed, the bill would further widen the state’s powers and cause serious harm to residents through provisions such as:
- Scrapping market prices for land seizure compensation
- Allowing land to be seized before compensation and resettlement are settled
- Requisitioning land without a written order
- Stripping out procedures for land seizure.
Trịnh Hữu Long wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 27, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
