Huynh Buu Long
Current Status: At risk
Other Names: Huỳnh Bửu Long, Huỳnh Long
Date of Birth:
Gender: M
Ethnicity: Kinh
Occupation: Driver
Areas of Activism:
- Anti-corruption
- Freedom of expression
Known Affiliations:
Details - Background, History of Activism, Contact Information.
Huynh Long, a driver, is from Vinh Long Province.
Profile photo source: Facebook Huỳnh Long
Long and other drivers in Ban Huu Duong Xa Group (Friends on Long Road) have protested against “dirty BOTs” (Build-Operate-Transfers), which effectively charge drivers a toll for a private development project authorized by the state. On his Facebook accounts, Huynh Long and Huynh Buu Long, followed by thousands of Facebookers, Long often exposes alleged cases of corruption, in which many government officers and enterprises have been involved.
January 14, 2019: detained illegally in an alley because of his protest against An Suong-An Lac BOT
- Detention
- Property confiscation
- Administrative fines
- Destruction of personal property
- Public security
- Collaborators
- freedom from arbitrary arrest or detention
- liberty and security of the person
- freedom of expression
- freedom of peaceful assembly
- political participation
At 2:00 pm on January 14, Huynh Buu Long, Truong Chau Huu Danh, Phuong Ngo and a woman went to An Suong - An Lac Toll Plaza to question the officials on the purpose of the 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 their 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 the incident.
When leaving the car to find a restroom at around 9:00 pm, Huynh Long was suddenly arrested by unidentified individuals, who threatened him into stopping 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. Being scared of his disappearance, Truong Chau Huu Danh, Phuong Ngo and the rest stayed inside the car until the next day and kept live-streaming their incident on Trương Châu Hữu Danh’s Facebook.
On January 15, the security force of Binh Tan District came to the cars in the morning and worked with them until the afternoon. That morning, Huynh Buu Long managed to return to the scene. Finally, authorities imposed administrative fines on the drivers for “stopping the car illegally, causing a traffic jam.” Meanwhile, security forces ignored drivers’ reports about their incident and their demands to investigate the arbitrary detention, as well as damage to the cars during the towing process. After more than 24 hours, they were finally able to leave the alley late in the afternoon.
Phản đối thu phí BOT An Sương, An Lạc, nhóm tài xế bị giam lỏng hơn 24 giờ, Radio Free Asia, January 15, 2019
Tài xế 'bị giam lỏng' nhiều giờ vì phản đối BOT An Sương-An Lạc?, BBC Vietnamese, January 15, 2019
Bị giam lỏng vì phản đối ‘BOT bẩn’ ở TP. HCM, nhóm tài xế sẽ kiện, Voice of America Vietnamese, January 15, 2019
Protest Against BOT: How Vietnamese Drivers Fight Back, The Vietnamese, January 16, 2019
Profile last updated: 2019-08-31 20:27:20