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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04863 to 363-04864.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04863 to 363-04864
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Title
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Viet Protest: Students Riot for Fifth Day
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about ongoing riots in South Vietnam, page 1 and 12
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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Viet Rioting
For Fifth Day
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
A mob of 2,000 people rioted today in
Da Nang, hurled rocks through a U. S.
Army billet in South Vet Nam's second
largest city and shouted anti-government
and anti-American slogans.
Students and pedicab drivers were
among the marchers whose demonstration
erupted into violence that sent several
civilians to the hospital with injuries.
Police did not interfere with the demon-
strators. There were no reports of Ameri-
can casualties.
In Hue, far to the north, 4,000 people
reportedly sacked a Roman Catholic
school. In Saigon itself, about 400 students
were meeting in various parts of the city
and planning a march on the Information
Ministry; more violence was expected.
It was the fifth straight day of protests
against the regime of President Nguyen
Khanh. Yesterday a mob of students
More on VIET-P 12
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- Page 2
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Viet Protest:
Student Riots
In Fifth Day
(Continued from page one)
stormed the government radio station In
Saigon, smashing windows and furniture.
At the same time, the Buddhist hier-
archy, members of which have been co-
operating with the dissident students,
formed a "Movement for the Salvation of
Buddhists in Danger," similar to the Bud-
dhist organization which led protests a year
ago against the government of President
Ngo Dinh Diem.
At a mass prayer meeting in the Bud-
dhist National Shrine, the Buddhists re-
leased a statement saying they would sup
port the Khanh regime "if it really respects
freedom and democracy, including freedom
of religion."
VEILED THREAT
But a saffron-robed Buddhist chaplain
in the South Vietnamese Armed Forces,
Thich (Venerable) Ho Giac, in an appar-
ent reference to the government, told the
crowd of thousands: "If there are old trees
and dead trees, we have to change them."
He added that "if the soldiers are be-
trayed by some one they must drop their
rifles and go home." The statement ap-
peared a velled threat that the Buddhists
might withdraw support for the fighting
against the Viet Cong Communists and
turn neutralist,
Thich Ho Glac, who played a part in last
year's Buddhist campaign against the Diem
regime, also told the crowd of thousands:
"If we call for you to demonstrate, you
must do it. If we have to die together, are
you ready to die with us?" He drew a roar-
ing affirmative from the audience, made up
largely of women and children, with a few
uniformed soldiers.
The Buddhists, who began demonstra-
tions last Thursday in loose alliance with
anti-Khanh student groups, reportedly
have already had some success in influene-
ing the President.
BUDDHIST COMPLAINTS
Informed sources said President Khanh,
who has been putting together a new gov-
ernment to go with the new Constitution
announced last week, is now revising his
proposed Cabinet list in response to the
Buddhist pressure.
The Buddhists have complained about
the holdover of officials who were in the
Diem regime during its bitter conflict with
their church. The newly formed Buddhist
salvation movement issued a statement
last night accusing the "elique of the
former Diem regime" of "slandering" the
Buddhists through the "foreign press."
The attack on the raido station by 600
students began with a rally protesting a
broadcast saying that student leaders who
met with President Khanh Saturday were
satisfied with his explanation of his policies.
The students, who were protesting the
constitutional changes under which Gen.
Khanh switched from Premier to President,
sald at the time they were not satisfied.
Anti-American overtones continued to
grow. Participants in the rally, at Saigon
University's medical school, applauded
wildly when a law student. Do Van Ngoc,
told them: "After the Communists, the
Americans will be our next enemy if there
is any sabotage of the student fight." Other
student speakers assailed Gen. Khanh as
a "dictator" and "demagogue."
STUDENT DEMANDS
A crowd of 600 students then marched
to the government radio station and de-
manded a retraction of the offending
broadcast. When a sudden downpour of
rain occurred, unarmed police guarding the
station ducked under trees and the stu-
dents stampeded into the building over
wooden barricades.
They smashed windows and office furni-
ture before retreating, but did not damage
the broadcasting equipment. The police,
who have handled the wave of demon-
strations with kid gloves to avoid charges
of Diem-type brutality, did not interfere.
Another rally, also attended by about
600 students, took place later at the uni-
versity's pharmacy school. One student
called on his fellows to march on the In-
formation Ministry and burn it in protest
against censorship. But organizers of the
meeting put off any such demonstration
till today.
The demonstrators were described by a
spokesman for the university's student
union as an extremist minority that lacked
support from the majority of Saigon Uni-
versity students. The Saigon student
dem-
onstrations, however, have been
matched
elsewhere in the country, notably
at the
Buddhist holy city of Hue ir. the
north.
Students from both Buddhist
and Catholic
schools took part.
KHANH REFUSAL
The student demonstrations are aimed
primarily at the new Constitution
under
which Gen. Khanh became a
"strong"
President last week, displacing the popular
Gen. Duong Van Minh, head of an earlier
military junta, from what had previously
been a figurehead post.
The students have also called for a pop-
ularly elected civilian government to re-
place the current military-dominated re-
gime. Gen. Khanh has insisted that elec-
tions are impossible at present because of
the threa' from the Communist Viet Cong
guerrillas.
The ominous parallel to last year's anti-
Diem demonstrations-In which seven
Buddhist monks and nuns burned them-
selves to death in anti-government pro-
tests-was strengthened by the attempted
fire suicide yesterday of a 53-year-old man.
After reportedly telling his daughter he
was dissatisfied with the Khanh regime,
Trịnh Văn Nhuong set himself on fre in
a street near the Salgon airport. He was
rushed to a hospital with severe burns.
Yesterday's anti-American statements by
students appeared to be a reaction to
Washington's avowed support for Gen.
Khanh's government as the last hope for
stability in Saigon.
The Khanh government underlined this
situation yesterday by releasing the text
of a pro forma message from President
Johnson, congratulating Gen. Khanh on
becoming President and expressing hope
he would succeed in "consolidating the
freedom and independence" of his country.
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Date
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1964, Aug. 24
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Subject
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Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--Vietnam (Republic); Riots; Demonstrations
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Location
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Saigon, South Vietnam
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Coordinates
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10.8231; 106.6311
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Container
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B186
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Format
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newspaper clippings
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Collection Number
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MS 363
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Collection Title
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Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers
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Creator
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Keever, Beverly Deepe
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Copyright Information
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These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.
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Publisher
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Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries
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Language
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English
