Highlands sealed in ethnic protests

HANOI — Vietnam’s Central Highlands remained sealed off yesterday as security officials admitted for the first time there were major protests by hundreds of ethnic minority Christians over Easter weekend.

Scores were arrested and injured when more than a thousand people took to the streets Saturday in Ban Me Thuot, the provincial capital of Daklak, in what was supposed to be peaceful prayer demonstrations against religious repression and land confiscation. Most of the indigenous mountain tribes are Protestant.

One witness said some protesters converged on the capital driving tractors, while police said demonstrations drawing up to 400 people each took place at several spots around the city.

State-controlled news media reported yesterday that thousands of people, including ethnic minority groups, celebrated Easter in the Central Highlands provinces of Daklak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum. There was no mention of protests.

The area has been closed off to all foreigners, with flights to Ban Me Thuot canceled since Saturday and roads leading into the town blocked. Over the weekend, a U.S. Embassy delegation was forced by police to turn back in neighboring Binh Phuoc province.

Vietnam has blamed “overseas instigation” for triggering the protests, which are a repeat of mass demonstrations in 2001.

“In recent days, some extremists in some localities in Daklak and Gia Lai provinces — with overseas instigation — have engaged in actions of causing social disorder, even assaulting authorities, destroying public welfare projects and property in some villages,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said.

Police confirmed that dozens of ethnic minority villagers, collectively called Montagnards, were detained Saturday while scores of people were injured in an area of Vietnam that has been politically volatile over issues of ethnic minority rights.

Police said the city was “peaceful” yesterday, while one Ban Me Thuot resident said things had returned to normal after Saturday’s demonstrations.

International human rights groups said they received independent reports from witnesses to violent clashes and multiple arrests.

“We’ve heard there have been many arrests; many more people are going into hiding,” a representative from New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Vietnam recognizes only a handful of state-sponsored religions and has clashed many times with Buddhists and Christians. International human rights groups assert that some ethnic minorities have been persecuted for their beliefs and forced to publicly renounce their faith. The European Union and the U.S. State Department have criticized Vietnam for religious repression.