Khanh Yields, Students Don't

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363-04865 to 363-04866.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-04865 to 363-04866

Title

Khanh Yields, Students Don't

Description

Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about Nguyá»…n KhÃ¡nh's reactions to the protests, page 1 and 3

Transcript

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- Page 1
--------------------
KHANH YIELDS.
STUDENTS DON'T
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
Despite a promise South
Vietnamese President Nguyen
Khanh made yesterday that
he would liberalize his one-
man rule, Buddhist students
early today renewed demon-
strations against his regime.
It had been hoped Gen.
Khanh's decision to compro-
mise would avert a major
crisis after five days of violent
demonstrations. But two
hours after soundtrucks and
airplanes had broadcast the
General's concessions, stu-
dents marched before the
Presidential palace shouting
“Down with Nguyen Khanh"
They were apparently an-
gered by the fact that, even
in announcing a relaxation of
his rule. Gen. Khanh had
warned "the government will
take strong measures to de-.
fend the whole people.... If
the state of disorder contin-
ues, guilty organizations will
be tried in accordance with
existing laws."
Gen. Khanh had met with
a group of Buddhist leaders
late last night and had come
More on KHANHP
--------------------
- Page 2
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Khanh Yields, Students Don't
(Continued from page one)
out of the conference to an-
nounce his concessions. This
was only moments before
midnight, the time set by his
opponents for a decision un-
der threat of further rioting.
The Buddhist leaders were
apparently pleased with his
concessions, but the students
who are allied with the Bud-
dhists against the regime
were not.
"Ngo Dinh Diem used to
make better promises to us
than that," said one. He re-
ferred to the Vienamese
President desposed and slain
last November.
A crowd of 20,000 or more
student demonstrators, some
yelling "Down with dictator-
ship." marched on the Presi-
dential office building, which
was guarded by only 50 un-
armed police.
After his meeting with the
handful of Buddhist leaders,
Gen. Khanh conferred hastily
with United States Ambas-
sador Maxwell D. Taylor and
Deputy Ambassador U. Alexis
Johnson, who both left their
residence after midnight
without disclosing their des-
tination.
Gen. Khanh saw the two
American diplomats for an
hour after spending more
than an hour and a half with
the Buddhists. There was no
Indication of the position
Gen. Taylor and Mr. John-
son had taken on the com-
promises announced over the
government radio and re-
peated at half-hour intervals.
Among the concessions by
Gen. Khanh was an agree-
ment to have the new con-
stitution, which gives the
President sweeping powers,
rewritten by a special com-
mittee of religious and polit
ical leaders.
Gen. Khanh also agreed
to permit a demonstration
scheduled for today but pre-
viously banned by the gov
ernment--although he warned
that "all acts harming the
security and honor of the
country will be punished."
He also promised that cen-
sorship will be entrusted to a
press council and said "all
mistakes committed by local
authorities will be tried by a
field court and sentences
executed immediately.
Although yesterday's vio-
lence was the worst since
the
demonstrations began
five days ago, government
troops and police still did
pratically nothing to counter
it in Saigon or in the three
provincial cities where riot-
ing broke out: Da Nang,
Hue and Qui Nhơn.
A woman was killed by a
at Da
grenade explosion
Nang and an American of-
ficer there reported that at
least three more Vietnamese
had been killed and four
wounded. A mob stoned the
hotel where some 500 Ameri-
cans are billeted; Da Nang,
South Viet Nam's second
largest city, is a major base
for U. S. fighter planes.
Guards on the hotel roof
warning
fired
reportedly
shots over the heads of the
mob, but not before at least
20 windows were broken. The
woman who was killed was
felled by the grenade blast
when she tried to leave the
hotel, where she worked.
The riots in the coastal city
375 miles northeast of Saigon
apparently began with crowds
of high school boys running
through the streets, then
quickly snowballed until one
estimate placed the number
of rioters at 15,000.
Next to the hotel is a Ro-
man Catholic quarter of Da
Nang, and the demonstrators
-mostly Buddhists-fought
Catholics in the streets with
guns and grenades. More
demonstrators marched on
the city hall to denounce Gen.
Khanh's regime and U. S.
interference.
At nightfall, the govern-
ment sent in a battalion of
paratroopers to try to keep
the marchers away from the
Catholic quarter, but there
was no sign of the harsh re-
pression used to put down
similar demonstrations last
year against the Ngo Dinh
Diem regime. Patrol boats
cruised off shore yesterday,
but that was all.
Still farther north-in the
ancient religious capital of
Hue, 400 miles from Saigon
-a crowd estimated at up to
5.000 broke into a Catholic
high school run by French
priests, breaking windows
and furniture
In Qui Nhon, on the coast
260 miles northeast of Sai-
gon, it was much the same
story. A school was broken into
and wrecked, and Catholics'
houses and stores were
burned. The crowds ran as
high as 15,000, and the gov-
ernment clamped down with
martial law and a 6 p. m. cur-
few.
Saigon itself was the scene
of a riot and a counter-riot.
In the morning, 2,000 Bud-
dhist-led students wrecked
the Information Ministry's
ground floor offices, beat
Vietnamese photographers
who tried to take their pic-
tures and condemned govern-
ment censorship.

Date

1964, Aug. 25

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--Vietnam (Republic); Nguyá»…n, KhÃ¡nh, 1927-2013; Riots; Demonstrations

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Container

B186

Format

newspaper clippings

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English

Item