The authorities of several southern cities and provinces have taken measures to stabilise the situation in some industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs) where extremists incited workers to break social order and security.

Over recent days, workers at IPs and EPZs in HO Chi Minh City and the provinces of Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai held rallies to protest against China’s illegal placement of its oil rig in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.

However, a number of extremists took the occasion to incite workers to break the gates, walls and properties of companies invested by businesses from Taiwan, China and some other countries, causing public disorder. Some even took advantage of the disorder to loot properties and set fire on factories.

Local officials have arrived at the scenes to instruct relevant forces in deploying measures to protect the foreign invested companies and restore order. At the same time, educational campaigns have been held to help the workers understand the Party and State’s viewpoint on resolutely safeguarding the country’s independence and territorial integrity while preserving a peaceful and stable environment for cooperation and development.

The educational campaigns also emphasised the need to solve all disputes by peaceful means and called on workers to stay calm and maintain self-control, avoiding violating the law at the extremists’ incitement.

The local authorities also instructed that those who take advantage of the situation to cause social disorder and destroy properties of the people, businesses and the State should be given strict punishment in accordance with the law. Strong actions will be taken to suppress those who force others to commit acts in violation of the law, in order to quickly restore order and protect the legitimate rights and interests of investors and workers.-VNA