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derivative filename/jpeg
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363-04892B to 363-04893.pdf
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Digital Object Identifier
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363-04892B to 363-04893
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Title
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Ky Loyalists Under Attack In Da Nang
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Description
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Article published in the New York Herald Tribune about violence done by Buddhist militants towards civilian supporters of Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, page 2 and 20
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AI Usage Disclosure
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Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.
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Transcript
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- Page 1
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Ky Loyalists
Under Attack
In Da Nang
By Beverly Deepe
A Special Correspondent
SAIGON.
At least 22 civilian South Vietnamese loyal to
the government have been taken political prisoners in
Da Nang by the Buddhist-backed self-styled struggle
committees. In the last week, they were intimidated.
Some were beaten. One was wounded in the leg. They
included a province chief, a district chief, and a num-
ber of civil servants.
And yesterday, in a town outside Da Nang, eight
pro-government civilians were reported murdered by
the Viet Cong.
The Communist Viet Cong apparently were seek-
ing to exploit an opportunity to irritate further the
current political crisis.
But the Da Nang anti-government action groups
are ostensibly anti-Communists with grievances only
against the military junta headed by Premier Nguyen
Cao Kỵ.
Vietnamese government omelals in Saigon believe
the new wave of political intimidation by the struggle
committees is Communist-Influenced, if not actually
directed by the Reds. These officials contend that
even though any number of non-Communists have
joined the demonstrations, they are tools of the Reds.
The last vestiges of anti-Communist, pro-Saigon
strength among government administrators, civil
servants, and military officers in the northern prov-
inces are being eroded by this wave of persuasion
and terror, the Saigon sources say. The result is a
power vacuum in the support areas behind 'some
50,000 U. S. Marines who are based near Da Nang and
behind a key rural pacification program.
"The whole American community in Da Nang
is in a state of distress," an American official said.
"They don't know where this is going to lead-
and certainly the political turbulence is not going
to stop. This last month of disorder has set back by
six months the pacification program in the northern
provinces," he asserted.
Responsible diplomatic sources believe the nuclef
of the struggle committees comprise the same group
that led the so-called national salvation committees
in August and September, 1964, when violent demon-
strations reduced a number of South Vietnamese
cities to anarchy.
In the northern provinces, those committees
burned houses and shops of Catholic merchants and
publicly hanged a Vietnamese anti-Communist from
More on KY LOYALISTS-P. 20
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- Page 2
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Ky Loyalists Held
In Da Nang Jails
(Continued from page one)
a tree. American officials then privately called the
national salvation committees Communist-inspired,
but thus far they have not so condemned the current
demonstrators.
Da Nang, 380 miles north of Saigon, with a popu-
lation of about 165,000, is the second largest city
in South Viet Nam and a center of Buddhist strength
and fervor for independence. Two weeks ago, Premier
Ky said it was "in Communist hands" and began
to move Vietnamese Marines against the dissidents
there, but later pulled them back and apologized
for the slur.
But among Western and Vietnamese officials
concerned with the nation's stability, "the terror of
the saffron robes" in Da Nang-named after the
traditional habit of Buddhist monks-is considered
as destructive as the wave of political assassinations
and terrorism by the Viet Cong.
Yesterday, about 3,000 chanting, shouting anti-
government demonstrators marched through the
streets of Da Nang demanding the immediate ouster
of Premier Ky and the nine other members of the
junta. A speaker at the protest rally burned a copy
of a decree issued by the government Thursday
promising election of a civilian government within
three to five months. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Chanh Thi
and Da Nang Mayor Nguyen Van Man, prestigious
leaders in the dissident northern provinces of which
Da Nang is the largest city, stood on the rally's side-
lines, giving tacit approval. Many of the demonstrators
were civil servants.
In Saigon yesterday, Chu Van Binh, editor and
publisher of the newspaper Song, was shot and crit-
ically wounded. Although his assailant escaped, a
high-ranking police official said "it was a natural
for the Viet Cong. The Viet Cong had two reasons
for striking-they could get rid of a nationalist and at
the same time keep the situation agitated."
Mr. Binh had editorially denounced the anti-
government and anti-American demonstrators in
Saigon last week as hooligans. His paper subsequently
was sacked and looted by demonstrators.
The effect of such incidents, and the campaigns
they constitute, can be seen in the north.
In the 300 square miles protected by U. S.
Marines around Da Nang, some of the pro-Saigon
village chiefs fled when they heard about the seizure
by the struggle committees of a neighboring district
chief.
"While the pro-Buddhist committees are seizing
Saigon-oriented officials from within the government
ranks," an American official said, "the Communist
guerrillas step up their terrorism right outside Da
Nang.
"After one night of political murders by the Viet
Cong, none of the formerly friendly people in nearby
villages would even speak to the Marines.
"We know the Viet Cong are re-infiltrating the
villages secured by the Americans. They are profiting
from the political turmoil. The whole war in the I
Corps (northern) area is at a standstill. We've lost
at least six months time."
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Date
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1966, Apr. 17
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Subject
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Nguyễn, Cao Kỳ, 1930-2011; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Religious aspects--Buddhism; Buddhism and politics--Vietnam (Republic); Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Atrocities; Terrorism; Civilians in war
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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
