A brawl between around 100 policemen and hundreds of civilians broke out Monday in the north-central Vietnamese province of Ha Tinh over land compensation disputes, leaving over 10 officers wounded.

Tens of people were slightly injured and hospitalized as a result of the incident in Ky Trinh Commune of Ky Anh District, according to local authorities.

Truong Cong Binh, chairman of the People’s Committee of Ky Trinh, said the clash erupted at 7:30 am when 200 workers of the Hanoi electricity construction company were installing the 500KV grid in the locality.

Hundreds of local residents then protested and obstructed the construction work on their land, as they claimed that they had not reached an agreement over the prices of land compensation, Binh said.

Some 100 policemen were sent to the scene to protect the construction project and then got “involved in a scuffle with locals for hours,” he added.

On Monday afternoon, local residents blocked the roads leading to the construction site with rocks, according to the chairman.

Residents block a road with rocks in Ha Tinh Province. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thanh Liem, vice director of the Ha Tinh police department, admitted that a scuffle did take place between policemen and local residents, leaving over 10 policemen injured.

Do Manh Hung, head of the construction project, said the residents damaged temporary huts of workers and three of the workers had to climb up a high-voltage electricity post in the morning to flee the fight and could only get down in the afternoon.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists saw 15 injured policemen along the corridor on the first floor of Ky Anh Hospital the same day.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!