Police-Hired ‘Thugs’ Beat Vietnamese Anti-Formosa (Plastics Company) Catholics

[TomSea]

Police-Hired ‘Thugs’ Beat Vietnamese Anti-Formosa Catholics
2017-05-31


A parishioner who was beaten by thugs at the Son Hai commune People's Committee, May 28, 2017.
Photo courtesy of Emily Page-Le's Facebook page

Hundreds of “thugs” hired by authorities in Vietnam’s central Nghe An province over the weekend severely beat a group of Catholic parishioners, including women and children, that had protested the government’s handling of a toxic waste spill, sending dozens to the hospital, according to sources.

Members of Phu Yen and Van Thai sub-parishes, under Song Ngoc parish in Nghe An’s Quynh Luu district, told RFA’s Vietnamese Service they were attacked after gathering at the Son Hai commune People’s Committee on May 28 to retrieve a fellow parishioner who had been detained earlier by police.

After arriving at the building to pick up Phu Yen parish member Nguyen Thi Tra, some parishioners began using their smartphones to record authorities, who responded by sending “thugs” into the crowd to beat them, they said.

Continued: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/vietnam/thugs-05312017114527.html

Hardly pressing news compared to other stories. Formosa is a plastics company, not the Formosa as in Taiwan.
"... angered by members of the church speaking out about an April 2016 waste spill by Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group’s steel plant that they say destroyed their livelihoods."

[Suppressed]

Hardly pressing news compared to other stories. Formosa is a plastics company, not the Formosa as in Taiwan.
"... angered by members of the church speaking out about an April 2016 waste spill by Taiwan-owned Formosa Plastics Group’s steel plant that they say destroyed their livelihoods."

Formosa Plastics Group has a US subsidiary, Formosa Plastics USA, too.

But the problem seems to be the government, not FPG.  FPG paid, but the government hasn't been coughing up the money to the people affected by the release.

There was also a dust explosion at the plant a few days ago when they restarted it.  The plant had been idle for more than a year.