Hanoi dwellers mobilise over city's cherished trees

Vietnam's Communist leaders are as intolerant as ever of public challenge as they prepare to mark next month's 40th anniversary of one-party rule over the unified state. But authorities in Hanoi have been forced on to the defensive this week by protests on an unlikely subject: the fate of the picturesque capital's famed greenery.

The city's officials have suspended and promised to review a plan to chop down 6,700 trees lining its boulevards, after the first felling triggered a viral social media campaign and a lakeside demonstration billed as a "picnic". As theories about the plans fly around, some say the dispute symbolises wider social frustration in this authoritarian state.

"The city usually doesn't consult anybody on any matters, big or small," said Duong Ngoc Tra, a Hanoi resident and housewife, who said she was amazed when a Facebook page she set up to oppose the cutting gathered more than 50,000 likes. "There must be some kinds of processes for us to affect these kinds of decisions."

Hanoi's venerable trees have long been central to its identity since the era of the French colonialists who planted many of them. They offer welcome refuge from rain and sun to the teeming street traders and many others taking advantage of the kind of walkable space that is rare in other big cities in the region. They are also a source of pride and aesthetic pleasure, most spectacularly in the much-photographed flame trees' red bloom.

The battle over these cherished landmarks began when people started circulating photos this month of the chopped remnants of the first batch of several hundred targets, some of which have been replaced by newly planted specimens.

Hundreds of people attended Sunday's demonstration-cum-picnic, where members of the country's pervasive security forces looked on at a crowd of protesters, some clad in green or displaying slogans such as "Tree hugs Hanoi". A few have even climbed into the trees to stop them being cut down, a defiant act in a country with a long record of jailing political opponents, including online activists.

The size and atmosphere of the protests have been nothing like those around the officially sanctioned anti-China demonstrations last year that ended with rioters sacking hundreds of foreign businesses. But the rally for the trees still has parallels with other incidents where high-profile environmental decisions have parlayed wider popular anxieties and provoked protests - notably those over plans to demolish Gezi Park in Istanbul, which widened into a much larger anti-government movement.

"This is a not strictly a case of people versus the state," said Jonathan London, an Asian studies professor at City University of Hong Kong. "But this is a sign of the coming of age of something resembling civil society in Vietnam."

Competing explanations abound about the reasons for the felling, including that it is to make room for an urban rail system or to reap profits from the timber. Some speculate that the local government is worried about the damage caused by branch falls or the growth of roots under buildings and roads.

The flurry of rumours highlights how tightly held information is in Vietnam, which is run by a politburo due to be rotated at the five-yearly party congress next year. Even one supporter of the tree-cutting, who works with the central government and asked not to be named, admits the affair is a sign of how opaque officialdom is. "If you talk about [lack of] transparency," she said, "you are talking about everything in Vietnam."

The central government has so far watched from the sidelines, neither clamping down nor responding to calls from protesters to intervene. Pham Binh Minh, deputy prime minister, foreign minister and a Hanoian, said he loved the city's trees and had sympathy with those calling for them to be spared.

Asked in an interview if that meant the plan should be scrapped, he was careful to hedge his bets on a question close to the heart of so many of the capital's residents. "We are still waiting for the answer from Hanoi," he said, referring to the review launched by city authorities. "The investigation is still going on."

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