Residents of Hanoi are engaging in rare public opposition to a sweeping redevelopment scheme that threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of people. Silent prayer vigils, cautiously worded protest banners, and T-shirts pleading for neighborhoods to be spared have emerged as key forms of dissent against a 100-year master plan approved last month.
Massive Redevelopment Plan Targets Red River Area
Authorities in Vietnam’s capital have been demolishing thousands of homes to make way for bridges and other infrastructure projects. The plan designates an 11,000-hectare area along the Red River—roughly the size of Paris—for high-end residential complexes and parks. Approximately 250,000 residents are slated for relocation.
Large-scale protests are uncommon in Vietnam, where the communist government tolerates little dissent. However, private discontent has evolved into tentative public action as residents fight to preserve their homes. “We have been living in fear, we don’t know when we will be kicked out of our houses. We want our voice to be heard,” said Hoa, a resident whose life savings are tied up in a two-story house in the planned development area, surrounded by ornamental and fruit trees.
Silent Vigils and Cautious Banners
Last week, Hoa attended a vigil at a Buddhist temple where residents prayed for peace—a veiled plea for their homes to be spared. Hundreds of Red River area residents have participated in similar vigils, organized anonymously in recent weeks and publicized via social media. The low-lying region is home to dozens of vibrant communities, some centuries old, featuring bustling markets, leafy gardens, and traditional burial grounds. French-style villas, modest Hanoi-style “tube” houses, and densely packed low-rises are all slated for demolition.
“May the Buddhas of the ten directions hear our earnest plea,” one anonymous user commented on a Facebook group dedicated to the Red River redevelopment. “Please help us avoid losing our homes, our land, our ancestral graves.”
Not far from Hoa’s home, resident Duc said he and some neighbors hung a banner from his four-story balcony. “We urge local authorities to consider people’s aspiration in maintaining the present communities,” it read. He noted the phrasing was deliberately cautious, “avoiding strong words like ‘protest’ or ‘against’,” but the authorities nonetheless asked him to take it down. Dozens of similar banners have appeared on nearby houses, with many disappearing after a few days.
Expert Analysis and Resident Frustration
Tuong Vu, a Vietnam expert at the University of Oregon, said Hanoi residents have “expressed their disagreement and resentment at losing their lands and houses.” Duc stated he would wait to see what happened in his neighborhood before making further attempts to save his home. “It’s not fair and also a big waste of money,” he said of the plan to relocate so many people. “We really don’t want to move.”
Over the weekend, a dozen women gathered to stroll along the shores of Hanoi’s West Lake wearing matching red-and-yellow T-shirts. Ostensibly exercising, they carried a message on their backs—a call to maintain the “existing residential area” along the Red River.
Compensation Concerns and Past Violence
Authorities have pledged to compensate residents for their homes and plan to build up to 85,000 new units to eventually house them on the city’s outskirts. The city stated the principle will be that “the new living conditions are equal to or better than the old ones.” However, many residents already displaced by Hanoi’s urban renewal drive complain they were paid below-market rates. Others question how long the new housing will take to build and how they will afford rent in the interim.
Part of the anger in the Red River area stems from the perception that private companies will profit from high-end apartments replacing their homes. A consortium of three developers is undertaking the $30 billion mega-project as a public-private partnership. In 2020, a dispute over land expropriated for an airport near Hanoi devolved into clashes that left three police officers and one villager dead. Two protesters were later sentenced to death, and more than two dozen were jailed. Since then, Vu noted, “there have been fewer acts of public protest and dissent.”
