The Ba Vì’s Safari project has Vietnamese Threads users drawing parallels to the 2020 Đồng Tâm land dispute.
The Latest: In recent weeks, numerous accounts on Threads have compared Sun Group’s Ba Vì Safari project to the forced land seizure in Đồng Tâm, which took place in 2020 in the former Mỹ Đức District of Hà Nội.
- Since late September, residents of Ba Vì Commune have repeatedly gathered, setting up checkpoints and tents to protest the safari development, as reported by Luật Khoa.
- Despite these demonstrations, Hà Nội authorities approved the project and broke ground on Oct. 9, ordering site clearance to be completed by Dec. 8.
- Meanwhile, Ba Vì Commune police have directed residents not to gather and threatened fines for violations.
- For the past few months in Facebook groups for Red River residents, many accounts posted and shared articles recalling the events in Đồng Tâm, but they were all quickly deleted.
From Social Media: The online discourse draws direct parallels between the current protests and the events of 2020.
Earlier, on Oct. 1, under the topic “Ba Vì,” an account named chi******ptht asked: “How brilliantly must the party be leading if farmers have to kneel and beg for their own land?”
- In the comments section, another account replied: “Kneeling is nothing. In 2020, Lê Đình Kình had his leg broken (information not acknowledged by police), and a few years later he was shot dead.”
- By Oct. 2, both the post and the comment had drawn thousands of interactions, though the comment mentioning Lê Đình Kình has since been deleted.
On the same day, under another video showing Ba Vì residents kneeling and bowing to plead against the land seizure, the account ***phuong.geny wrote: “Chu Ngọc Quang Vinh has been cleared. So what about Mr. Kình (Lê Đình Kình) and his family?”
- The account argued that believing Kình’s family was guilty, as state media claimed, is like believing that “92% of residents support the Hồ Gươm zoning plan.”
On Oct. 16, under a video of police arriving to disperse residents in Ba Vì, the account ***_vu_dai wrote:
“This isn’t even as brutal as a small corner of Đồng Tâm. Đồng Tâm was far worse. I hope that in 2026, Ba Vì and other places won’t see it repeated, and that many people will learn about it and join hands to support them. Wishing them luck and safety.”
On Oct. 17, under the topic “Ba Vì Safari,” the account ***_thang_hung_tan posted a photo of Lê Đình Kình and wrote: “Đồng Tâm version 2 is coming. Will the people of Ba Vì be as tough as Lê Đình Kình’s family? They didn’t even spare a 100-year-old party member.”
- The same day, the account ***elzx posted a screenshot of a post about Ba Vì residents gathering to protest the project and wrote: “Ba Vì is about to have another Lê Đình Kình.”
- While many other accounts reshared photos and expressed grief for Lê Đình Kình, numerous others pushed back in the comments; these accounts labeled the Đồng Tâm villagers as “reactionaries” and called the posts recalling the case subversive and inflammatory.
The Đồng Tâm Incident: The Đồng Tâm case in Hà Nội is considered one of the most serious land disputes in peacetime Việt Nam, in terms of the police force deployed, public reaction, and the lives lost.
- The raid was the climax of a long-running land dispute between residents and the military.
- Residents stated that part of the land was their farmland and demanded compensation at market prices, while the military stated that the entire area was defense land slated to be handed over to Viettel.
Before dawn on Jan. 9, 2020, thousands of police officers from several units, working with local forces, surrounded and stormed Hoành hamlet in Đồng Tâm Commune, about 5 kilometers from the disputed land.
- According to independent sources, police quietly cut internet access and jammed phone signals before entering the village, then used tear gas and grenades against residents.
- Lê Đình Kình, the village’s spiritual leader, was shot dead by police in his home.
- Three police officers were killed in the raid, and 29 people were arrested, most of them members of Kình’s family.
On Sept. 14, 2020, the first-instance court sentenced Lê Đình Công and Lê Đình Chức, two of Kình’s sons, to death.
- The court sentenced Lê Đình Doanh, Kình’s grandson, to life in prison and gave the other villagers from the raided hamlet more than 80 years in prison combined for “murder” and “resisting officers on duty.”
On March 9, 2021, the appeals court upheld the first-instance verdict for the six defendants who had appealed or whose cases had been protested.
Looking back through history, Đồng Tâm remains one of many serious cases that grew out of citizens resisting forced land seizures by the state, alongside the Văn Giang and Đoàn Văn Vươn disputes in 2012.
Lê Sáng wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 29, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
