Villagers attack Vietnam officials in land dispute

01:46 a.m. Oct 21, 1998 Eastern
HANOI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Dozens of enraged Vietnamese villagers wielding sickles and spears have attacked and injured officials in a land dispute on the outskirts of Hanoi, the Communist Party newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Nhan Dan (People) said residents of Tho Da attacked village officials last week as they were conducting a final inspection of the village before allowing South Korea's Daewoo Group and a local partner to start building an 18-hole golf course nearby.

Sporadic violence has hit the proposed project since May 1996. Villagers have said they accepted that their rice fields would be turned into a swank golf course but they have demanded reasonable compensation.

Land disputes are common in Vietnam and have combined with dissent over local-level corruption to trigger bouts of unrest mainly in rural areas across the country.

The unusually detailed Nhan Dan report said that on October 13 a group of officials went to check the land before handing it over to the investors.

While the officials were inspecting the rice fields, they were attacked ``fiercely by a number of bad elements armed with spears, sickles, canes, hoes and machetes,'' Nhan Dan said.

Twelve officials were injured, including five who were hospitalised. It was unclear if police had made any arrests.

Nhan Dan added that most villagers had accepted compensation but some 100 households wanted more money or to negotiate directly with the investors.

``Some bad elements excited the people, caused disputes between those who asked for more compensation and those who had already received compensation,'' it said.

``These extremists were illegally armed, vandalised people's property, set up fences around the village... and caused disorder and tension.''

``Land clearing is always complicated and becomes a hot current affair in the capital. However, not all projects have to face a situation similar to Tho Da,'' it added.

The state controls all media in Vietnam and usually makes little mention of any unrest. Daewoo has not commented on the latest violence to hit the golf course project.

Nhan Dan said construction would proceed in the near future.