Subject:      Kim No's villagers rebeled against forced land requisition



HANOI, Vietnam (Reuter) - Angry villagers at a commune on the outskirts
of Hanoi reported Saturday a rare and bloody clash with riot police
trying to evict them from land earmarked for the construction of a
luxury golf course.

Local people at a hamlet in Kim No commune, a few kilometres to the
north of the capital, told a Reuters journalist that one woman had
been killed and scores injured in an incident involving a total of
around 1,500 people May 13.

They said an estimated 400-500 army workers together with police
carrying tear gas, riot shields and electric prongs, had moved into
the area last Monday.

"Police began tearing out rice from our rice field. Three old women
who tried to stop them were beaten unconscious," a woman said.

Villagers said about 1,000 people had then confronted the police and
attacked members of the army work unit with stones and farming tools.

In the ensuing melee a woman drowned after falling into a waterhole.
An injured woman who was taken hostage by the villagers was later
released, they said.

Reports of the incident, a rare event in itself in Vietnam, first
appeared in the Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper Saturday, six days after
the clash took place.

There was no explanation for the delay. The newspaper described a
smaller clash which it said had been caused by "bad elements" in the
area and which resulted in dozens of police being hurt and one death.

The villagers disputed the newspaper version of events. They said the
incident was the most serious so far in a developing saga of local
opposition to confiscation of land by local authorities for the golf
course.

They said three villagers had been arrested in connection with the
matter in February. A further four people, sent as mediators following
the latest clash, were also arrested.

They showed women with broken teeth and others with heavy bruising
whom they said were victims of the violence.

The area of land at the center of the dispute is a small area of rice-
paddy, for which the villagers said they had been offered $245 in
compensation.

Both the local and Hanoi People's Committees were unavailable for
comment Saturday. There was also no response from police to telephone
enquiries.

The planned golf course is part of a $177 million project involving
the South Korean Daeha group.

A Daeha official told Reuters Saturday he was aware of an incident,
but declined to give details. He said there had been some delays in
the project, but added that the company was on track to part-open a
nine-hole course in July 1997.

"Site clearance and work on an access road has already begun," the
official said. "We're still hoping to be the second golf course to
open in northern Vietnam."

Riots, protests and serious clashes are seldom reported in the
communist-run country and are believed to be extremely rare.

Although people have certain rights to the land they occupy in Vietnam
ownership belongs to the state.