Vietnamese reporters attacked and beaten during Formosa steel firm investigation

 23rd July 2016

THREE Vietnamese journalists were beaten while attempting to investigate a waste scandal involving Taiwanese-owned Formosa steel firm in the northern Phu Ninh District.

Police in the district confirmed that the three reporters, two men and one woman from Lao Dong newspaper and VTC14 television channel, were attacked on Friday at the Phu Ha Environment Company.

According to Thanh Nien News, the reporters allege that guards at the steel firm beat them and seized their equipment as they tried to document how the firm’s waste was treated and disposed of.

The Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp. had reportedly moved 145 tons of “dangerous” waste from the Ha Tinh Province, over 500 kilometres away, to Phu Ninh. Reporters went to investigate after receiving complaints about the waste from residents in the area.

SEE ALSO: Vietnam: About 100 scientists called in to probe mystery of mass fish deaths

They were in the area at around 11am on Friday when five men who claimed they were guards at the firm seized their cameras and phones before allegedly beating them.

Police said they have recovered the equipment and investigations are underway.

The Taiwanese steel firm has harboured animosity and distrust from the Vietnamese people after it admitted to dumping toxic waste into the sea, which has been linked to hundreds of tons of dead fish washed up on the shores of several coastal provinces.

SEE ALSO: Vietnam: Fatal phenol toxin found in 30 tons of frozen fish at seafood facility

Formosa is also under investigation for allegedly dumping toxic industrial waste at several more locations, including a farm where 100 tons of waste was found in early July. Ha Tinh authorities have found at least six other sites used as dumping grounds.

Protests against the mass fish deaths and lax environmental laws broke out last month across the country, as the incidents have damaged the livelihoods of people living in coastal and floating villages who depend on fishing to survive.