Armed police in south-central Vietnam’s coastal Quang Ngai province attacked a crowd of people blocking garbage trucks from entering a long-disputed waste-processing plant over the weekend, arresting some 20 participants, a local source said Monday.

Citizen video emerged on Facebook over the weekend that claimed to show hundreds of officers armed with shields, batons, and police dogs on March 13 descending on the roadblock outside the plant in La Van village, in Duc Co district’s Pho Thanh commune, which had been in place since 2018.

The footage appeared to show several officers singling out protesters and beating them before taking them away for detention.

On Monday, local residents confirmed the incident in interviews with RFA’s Vietnamese Service.

“On March 8, police forces came to La Van village,” one source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal by local authorities.

“We told them the landfill was under dispute, meaning no garbage trucks were supposed to enter, but the trucks had still come in droves. In the past, we [villagers] were just observing without taking action, but things took a different turn on March 13.”