Police say Vietnam provinces now calm

HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) -- Vietnamese police said protests in key coffee growing provinces in the central highlands were largely under control.

Police has seized control after days of protests by thousands of ethnic minority people who demanded a return of land. The protests broke out last Saturday.

"There may still be problems in some villages, but we have sent our people to tighten control," said a police officer.

Protesters blocked National Road 14 between Buon Ma Thuot, the capital of Daklak, and neighboring Gia Lai province for two hours on Monday morning and cut telephone lines.

"But now the traffic is okay," the officer said. "We have set up check points on all roads to Daklak and advise travelers, especially foreigners, about the unsafe situation in the province."

Vietnam Airlines said flights to Buon Ma Thuot were operating normally.

On Tuesday, coffee traders and exporters said trade had been normal but slow, partly due to unclear price trends.

Thousands protest

Residents in Daklak and Gia Lai said several thousand ethnic minority people had staged protests in recent days to demand a return of land.

In Daklak, protesters attacked people they accused of encroaching on their land.

One resident said about three or four thousand demonstrators gathered last Friday in Pleiku, capital of Gia Lai province north of Daklak.

Ethnic group

It was not clear from which ethnic group the protesters came, but the Ede and the Gia Rai are the largest in the area which produces most of Vietnam's coffee.

Relocation of large numbers of lowland Vietnamese to highland provinces has created friction with ethnic groups who have lived there for generations. The problem has been exacerbated by corruption among local officials.

Last August, a violent clash erupted in a Daklak district between ethnic minority people and settlers in which four officials, including two policemen, were slightly hurt.

Official denied reports

An official at the People's Committee in Pleiku denied the reports as "rumors," although he said some people had made complaints about land and official "mistakes."

The Foreign Ministry Press Department, which control access to much information by foreign news organizations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment and no reports of the unrest have been carried in the strictly controlled media.

However, on Wednesday, the official Vietnam News Agency reported that communist officials in Gia Lai had held a meeting with religious leaders in the province to mark the Lunar New Year.

In the meeting, Ro Cham H Yeo, chair of the local Fatherland Front warned of attempts by "bad elements" to use religion to distort reality and sow discord among ethnic people.

Saturday was the 71st anniversary of the founding of the ruling Communist Party, which many ethnic minority people in the central highlands fought against during the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Hanoi, rooted in past, readies for future
Rights group says Vietnam repressing religious freedoms

Vietnam information

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.