What Constitutes a Legal Protest?

Currently, Vietnamese law does not have specific regulations regarding the issue of protests in any legal documents. The Law on Protest has been discussed in the National Assembly for a long time but has not yet been enacted. So, does the absence of the Law mean freedom to protest?

According to the 2013 Constitution, "Citizens have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, access to information, assembly, association, and protest. The exercise of these rights is regulated by law." Protesting is a citizen's right and is always respected by the law.

However, as mentioned, the law currently does not have specific regulations regarding this issue, leading many to exploit this loophole by equating protests with freedom of speech and assembly to incite large gatherings causing public disorder.

Protesting is an act reflecting society's views on an important issue of the country, but if such actions disregard all limits, they can cause unforeseen consequences and be considered acts of public disorder.

According to Article 7 of Decree 38/2005/ND-CP, gatherings in public places must be registered in advance with the competent People's Committee where the activities are to take place and must follow the registered content.

Thus, spontaneous protesting actions violating the above regulation will be handled as violations of public order according to Decree 167/2013/ND-CP. In more severe cases, such as causing injury or death, individuals will be prosecuted for criminal liability under the Criminal Code 2015.

- Doan Trinh -

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