Police in Vietnam stopped hundreds of protesters…from marching to present compensation claims against a steel plant over a toxic spill last year, activists said…

The protesters, many of them fishermen, had planned to travel from central Nghe An province to submit their claims in Ha Tinh, where the company is based…

But activists said police stopped the protesters' vehicles, and later stopped them, after they had walked 20 km (12 miles) towards their destination…

Witnesses said police had beaten and arrested some of the protesters…