Truong Chau Huu Danh

At 2:00 pm on January 14, Truong Chau Huu Danh, Phuong Ngo, Huynh Long, and a woman went to An Suong - An Lac Toll Plaza to question authorities on the purpose of the toll station and what type of fees they have charged. An Suong - An Lac Toll Plaza is one of the BOTs being protested since 2018 because they collected fees beyond the contract duration, which ended in January 2017.

Right after that, hundreds of people, including public security officers, police in uniform, and individuals wearing masks, raided their three cars and towed them into a dead-end alley, which was 50 meters away from the BOT. All of them were isolated in cars by barriers, cars, and a powerful security force without receiving food from the outside during their detention.

When leaving the car to find a restroom at around 9:00 pm, Huynh Long was suddenly arrested by unidentified individuals, who threatened him to stop his activism against BOT An Suong - An Lac. The aggressors drove him on their motorcycles around the town before taking his belongings and leaving him in District 12 the next morning. Scared from his disappearance, Truong Chau Huu Danh, Phuong Ngo, and the others stayed inside the car until the next day and kept live-streaming their incident on Facebook page of Trương Châu Hữu Danh.

On January 15, the security force of Binh Tan District came in the morning and worked with them until the afternoon. On that morning, Huynh Buu Long managed to return to the scene. Finally, authorities imposed administrative fines on the drivers for “stopping the cars illegally, causing traffic jam”. Meanwhile, security forces ignored the drivers’ report on their incident and their demand to investigate their arbitrary detention as well as the damage to the cars from the towing process. After more than 24 hours, they were finally able to leave the alley in the late afternoon.