With all of the mentioning of Vietnam...
Posted on Mon, Apr. 12, 2004
Vietnam's Central Highlands in Lockdown
MARGIE MASON
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam - Vietnam's Central Highlands remained sealed off Monday by police and security
officials following protests by hundreds of ethnic minority Christians over Easter weekend.
Scores were arrested and injured when more than a thousand people took to the streets
Saturday in Buon Ma Thuot, the provincial capital of Daklak, in what was supposed to be peaceful
prayer demonstrations against religious repression and land confiscation. Most of the indigenous
mountain tribes are Protestant.
One witness said some protesters converged on the capital driving tractors, while police said
demonstrations drawing 300-400 people each took place at several spots around the city.
State-controlled media reported Monday that thousands of people, including ethnic minority
groups, celebrated Easter in the Central Highlands provinces of Daklak, Gia Lai and Kon Tum.
There was no mention of protests.
The area has been closed off to all foreigners, with flights to Buon Ma Thuot canceled since
Saturday and roads leading into the town blocked. Over the weekend, a U.S. Embassy delegation
was forced by police to turn back in neighboring Binh Phuoc province.
Vietnam has blamed "overseas instigation" for triggering the protests, which are a repeat of mass
demonstrations in 2001.
"In recent days, some extremists in some localities in Daklak and Gia Lai provinces - with overseas
instigation - have engaged in actions of causing social disorder, even assaulting authorities,
destroying public welfare projects and property in some villages," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le
Dung said in a statement.
Police confirmed that dozens of ethnic minority villagers, collectively called Montagnards, were
detained Saturday while scores of people were injured in an area of Vietnam that has been
politically volatile over issues of ethnic minority rights.
On Monday, police said the situation in the city was "peaceful," while one Buon Ma Thuot resident
said things had returned to normal following Saturday's demonstrations.
International human right groups said they received independent reports from witnesses of
violent clashes and multiple arrests.
"We've heard there have been many arrests; many more people are going into hiding," a
representative from New York-based Human Rights Watch said.
Vietnam recognizes only a handful of state-sponsored religions and has clashed many times with
Buddhists and Christians. International human rights groups allege some ethnic minorities have
been persecuted for their beliefs and forced to publicly renounce their faith. The European Union
and the U.S. State Department have criticized Vietnam for religious repression.
On Monday, Nikola Mihajlovic, head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees office in Phnom
Penh, said 74 Montagnards have crossed the border and sought asylum in Cambodia since
January.
In 2001, similar unprecedented protests took place in the Central Highlands, triggering a mass
exodus into Cambodia. Nearly 1,000 refugees were accepted by the United States for political
asylum. Human rights groups assert that more than 100 people have been jailed in Vietnam for
helping organize those demonstrations.
Government officials have blamed the North Carolina-based Montagnard Foundation for organizing
both demonstrations. The U.S-based organization was founded by former members of a group of
anti-communist Montagnard fighters allied with the United States during the Vietnam War. |
