"Hearing me shouting, four or five security policemen beat me' It's not just bloggers who have been harassed by the government as security forces in Vietnam's southern city of Vung Tau on Saturday detained a group of around 20 activists who attempted to conduct an informal workshop on civil society. The local police interrogated and beat the activists who had hoped to talk to young Vietnamese about the development of civil society. Instead they ran into squads of police who broke up the meeting, attorney Le Cong Dinh told RFA. "They shoved me into a car, and I shouted "police' so others could hear, but they could not because many people were still inside a closed room while I was in the lobby at the time," said the attorney, who served a prison term for "propaganda against the state." "Hearing me shouting, four or five security policemen beat me," he added. "They grabbed my neck and twisted my arms. Four people took me to the car." The police drove him to the police station in Than Tam commune, where other activists had been rounded up, he said. Le Cong Dinh told RFA that the meeting was designed to be an informal one where people could stand up and speak about a topic although some had prepared material for the talk. He was prepared to talk about legal matters related to civil society in Vietnam. "We went to our meeting at Phan Chu Trinh Street," he said. "Upon our arrival, we saw that there were many policemen, including traffic police, fast reaction troops and security policemen. They had cameras to film our arrival." The activists were blocked from their original meeting place, and when they tried to go to another, the police pounced and arrested them. They were eventually released. "They drove all their victims out of Vung Tau," he said. "And dropped them on deserted streets."