Saigon apartment residents wear T-shirts condemning child molestation

Last week, Nguyen Huu Linh, a former senior prosecutor, was caught molesting a young girl inside an elevator on camera. The footage went viral online, triggering widespread outrage. People threw dirt at his house and someone painted au dam (paedophilia) on his gate. 

On Sunday, residents of the apartment, adults and children, wore T-shirts that said "Lam Dung Tinh Duc Tre Em La Toi Ac" (Sexual Child Abuse is A Crime) and "Cung Nhau Len Tieng Bao Ve Tre Em Gai" (Raise our Voice to Protect Little Girls).

Thao Nguyen, a resident, said: "Normally, I take my child to the playground after she comes back from school. But now I don't want to take a risk because if we don't take the case seriously, there will be more abusers. Not just in apartment buildings or in uninhabited and unfrequented areas, we have to raise our voice to protect children everywhere."

Nguyen Tran Phuong Thu, another resident with a little daughter, also expressed her anger and frustration. "I have kept up to date with recent news with the hope that there will be a stiff sentence for the child molester."

She said other women should get to know their own children better and establish a relationship that gives the little ones confidence to confide in their parents. 

About 2,000 cases of child abuse are discovered in Vietnam every year, according to data from the Ministry of Labor. Over 60 percent of them are sexual in nature.

Over 1,500 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in the country in both 2018 and 2017, a labor ministry report stated.