Roundup: Protests halt Hanoi plan to chop down 6700 trees

Over the past few days, authority of Vietnam's capital of Hanoi chopped down trees along its streets as part of an approved plan to uproot 6,700 trees on 190 streets, triggering debate and protests all around Vietnam.

According to the plan, trees in wrong species, with ugly appearance, or affecting the city's traffic will be cut down and replaced in ten districts of Hanoi. The number of to-be-demolished trees accounts for 5.58 percent of total trees.

Some trees are dying, posing risks to road travelers during the rainy season while some healthy ones must be cut down to clear way for infrastructure projects and city planning, said the plan.

Many trees that will be uprooted are believed to be centuries old and their timber can be highly valuable.

The plan sparked huge opposition after Phan Dang Long, deputy chief of Hanoi Party Committee's Propaganda Department told local media that there was no need to ask for public opinion in replacing trees as it was management responsibility of state organizations.

Various responses of local residents over the plan have been seen in the past few days. People urge authorities to reconsider the plan and provide people with more information.

A fan page called "6,700 people for 6,700 trees" on Facebook, a popular social network in Vietnam, was established, drawing nearly 35,000 followers in just a few days, including famous local scholars, researchers and architects.

Mai Nguyen, a netizen, said on her personal Facebook page that "Today, I told my kids about the fact that 6,700 trees on 190 streets across Hanoi, the capital city of their beloved country Vietnam, will be chopped down in just a few days."

"My daughter cried while my son was angry. He urged me to tell the police to catch the bad guys and save the trees," Mai wrote on her page.

The woman pledges her friends to share a photo with a message of "Save our trees" on it.

"We hope to send our message across. One picture tells a thousand words!" said Mai.

Another netizen Do Thanh Hai called on his friends to launch a petition, which has attracted a total of over 19,500 signatures as of Friday noon.

"We, organizations and citizens of Hanoi, hereby express our deep concerns about the ongoing project to replace urban trees in Hanoi, within which 6,700 trees are to be cut down. While we share the idea of restoring the city's look, we see that information about the project has hardly been disclosed despite the mass number of trees being cut down every day, thus provoking public concerns and queries," said the petition.

It also urged for immediate postponement of cut-down of trees in Hanoi until public queries were fully addressed and necessary adjustments to the project were made.

Other public movements against the plan include labeling trees along streets with tags "I'm a healthy tree. Do not cut me down," and changing profile pictures on social networks with an image of hands holding trees and message of "Tree hugs Hanoi."

In response to public disagreement, Nguyen The Thao, chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, said on Friday that he has ordered a halt of the cut-down plan.

The pause aims to review, classify trees and put forward specific criteria as well as make a suitable implementation roadmap, Thao told a meeting.

"Only trees that need to be moved for land clearance of infrastructure projects or affect traffic safety will be cut down, " local VNExpress online newspaper quoted Thao as saying on Friday.

The city head said it was crucial to reach a consensus in society by absorbing comments and ideas of local people, as well as contribution of experts before implementing the plan.

The decision to pause received great applause by most domestic internet users.

A netizen Viet Thang Nguyen said on his Facebook page, "Despite being late, the decision of delaying chopping down 6,700 trees of the Hanoi People's Committee is a good move. Opinion of experts and local people should be respected." Endi