Five members in a family in An Giang Province, southern Vietnam were sentenced to 2-3.5 years behind bars for insulting and attacking local police officers, including attempts to set the latter on fire, over the construction of a bridge.

The People’s Court in Chau Phu District, An Giang Province on Saturday handed down the sentences to the five defendants, Do Thi Phuong, 53, Le Thi Phan, 25, Do Thi Dao, 66, Do Thanh Nhan, 42, and Do Thi Phien, 63.

Phuong got a jail term of 3.5 years, while Phan was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison. Dao, Nhan, and Phien were condemned to two years in jail each.

In 2019, the administration in Chau Phu District licensed Nam Viet Binh Phu Aquaculture Co. Ltd. and Thuan Trung Construction and Investment JSC to build a bridge in Binh Phu Commune, Chau Phu District to serve local residents.

During the construction of the bridge, Phuong and her family members repeatedly hampered the job and required compensation.

At about 8:30 am on August 22 last year, when workers were building a bridge section in front of their house, Phuong, Nhan, Phan, and some other family members hindered the workers’ job and threatened them with boiling water mixed with shrimp paste.

Informed of the incident, police officers in Binh Phu Commune rushed to Phuong’s house.

However, Phuong threw pieces of burning rag to the police officers and workers, while Nhan used an iron tube and Phan prepared boiling water mixed with shrimp paste to attack the policemen.

When the police and authorities in Chau Phu District called on Phuong’s family to stop their acts and invited them to the police station, Phuong did not follow the requirement.

She even called Phien, living in Tinh Bien Town, An Giang Province, to assist her.

The attackers utilized discarded plastic basins and buckets, pots, metal bars, a mixture of hot water and shrimp paste, burning cloth pieces, and assorted objects to launch an assault on the policemen, causing injuries to many of them.

In late August 2023, police initiated legal proceedings against Phan, Dao, Phien, and Nhan.

Phuong was prosecuted two months later.

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