Land reoccupation shakes Hanoi People in Hanoi’s Van Loi Village are still stunned after their houses were destroyed in the lead up to Tet holiday despite hasty deadline and incomplete compensation.   Old village turned into dust The forced removal was conducted on January 24 by 780 people with the help of four bulldozers, forcing hundreds residing in 52 houses in the old sector of Binh Yen Commune to leave their houses and find temporary shelter, even though the Tet was coming. Even though nearly two months have passed, villagers are still dealing with the aftermath of the coercive land reoccupation that put out so many people from their homes, including children, the elderly and even some Vietnamese Heroic Mothers.        Villagers stunned by the violent land withdrawal DTiNews received a complaint on March 5 which called for help, composed by dozens people from the village. The village is in ruins, including both new buildings and homes built hundreds of years ago; even trees have been uprooted. Pham Thi Hoa, a local woman, said, "The village was built a long time ago and my family is the eighth generation to live here. The land of my family and many others in the village has been stolen for a road construction scheme. We were just informed that our village was to be evacuated," Hoa said.   Old village shaken by the incident  The construction project is a road project in the Hoa Lac high-tech park. She went on to say that villagers have yet to move due to unsolved compensations disputes. On January 22, the communal government suddenly informed to villagers that they would apply coercive land reoccupation and local residents had to move by January 27. However, they suddenly conducted the violent withdrawal three days earlier than the deadline. “They came at 7am and started destroying our homes just as I woke up. We tried to stop them, but they continued," Hoa recalled. Do Van Hung, 58, cried, “We were forced to move out of our house just before Tet. We were not in any mood for celebration after that. We didn't even have a place to live." One elderly woman was reportedly forceably taken from her home in her bed so the workers could destroy the house.   Elderly woman taken to garden on her bed The house of Vietnamese Heroic Mother, Nguyen Thi Khuyet, was also destroyed on that day.   House of Vietnamese Heroic Mother destroyed When residents became aware of the plan, they tried to build boundary walls, partially because they took up issue with the compensation offered, which was VND700,000 (USD33.13) per square metre. Le Van Mao, Chairman of the communal People’s Committee, said they were forced to conduct the violent land withdrawal that day because they were hastened by their superiors.   Le Van Mao, chairman of the communal People’s Committee “52 local households illegally built and upgraded their homes, so we coordinated with forces from Thach That District to apply coercive reoccupation,” Mao commented. Communal authorities were criticised after the incident and they promised not to take anymore coercive land withdrawal measures, but will deal with future issues by negotiations with local people, he added. By Anh The – Hoanh Son | dtinews.vn