Unprecedented protests by farmers in one of Vietnam's poorest provinces have left between one to five local officials dead, reliable sources said Thursday. The troubles erupted in May and June in the northern Vietnamese province of Thai Binh when they staged sit-in protests in front of public buildings and attacked local officials. They were accusing them of imposing high taxes and pocketing public funds originally allocated to roadbuilding.
Public protest is extremely rare in Vietnam.
Another source said three to five local officials died in June after being lynched by a crowd of angry peasants. He added the politburo had forbidden local press to cover the events in a directive. Thai Binh province remains closed to the foreign media. About 30 places were hit by the troubles but the situation was now mostly calm with pockets of unrest in a few areas, the sources added. The protests occurred in the cradle of Vietnam's revolution and are being taken very seriously by the communist regime in Hanoi.