Early morning of October 15, 2014, security police in Hanoi and Saigon
cities mobilized maximum forces to stop and harrass any potential
participants in the civil campaign requesting for the Right To Know; in
particular, the right to know the contents of the Chengdu Conference.
Over the past weeks, there had been calls on social media for public
participation in the march to the House of National Assembly at 9 am on
Oct.15, 2014, to present to members of Congress a public request
for the government’s transparency of the factual and legal bases on
which official decisions were made at the Chengdu Conference in 1990
with China.
As predicted, this public demand for the disclosure of the “secretive”
Chengdu treaty signed in 1990 has caused panic within various ranks of
the communist party. Security police utilized several dirty tactics just
to oppress, and deny the right to know of patriotic citizens.
Trinh Kim Tien with I WANT TO KNOW sign. In front of her is a security police. |
In Hanoi, since the previous night of Oct. 14, 2014, there had been a
stakeout by 3 security police and 1 district police officer in front of
blogger Trinh Kim Tien’s house. The following morning, they stopped her
from heading out to join other activists at the House of National
Assembly. However, while being surrounded by security police, she
protested by standing in front of her house holding up a hand-made sign
that said “I Want To Know”. Despite being physically restrained, she
wanted to share, in spirit, her support and participation in the civil
campaign. Many others also faced the same obstacle as she did and could
not make it to the meeting points to demand for their right to know due
to security police’s tight surveillance and harrassment.
Nevertheless, there were some who succeeded in breaking through police
surveillance and arrived in front of the House of National Assembly in
Hanoi. Among them were the famous actress Ms. Kim Chi, bloggers and
activists Nguyen Van Vien, Nguyen Van Lich, Le Hong Phong, Nguyễn Tường
Thụy, Trương Văn Dũng, Ngô Duy Quyền, Vũ Quốc Ngữ, Nguyễn Thanh Thuỷ, Lê
Hùng, Hà Thanh... and other peasants and farmers, whose land had been
illegally confiscated, also arrived from rural areas to join in the
civil campaign.
Large forces, including police 113, civil defence units, secret police,
security personnel, “public-opinion spinners”, and Red Guards were all
mobilized in large numbers to obstruct citizens’ legitimate rights: the
right to know and the right to express their civic duties towards their
country.
Several “public-opinion spinners” tried to provoke the campaign
participants by cursing profanity, and insulting them. Some of the
State hired-hands resorted to violence and tried to beat up blogger
Nguyen Tuong Thuy. However, instead of stooping down to the secret
police’s level, and reacted strongly against them as they anticipated,
the campaign participants remained calm but resolute, and formed into a
circle surrounding their fellow blogger to protect him from the police’s
punches and kicks. They were well aware that the police wanted to
create violence and chaos in order to have legitimate excuses to
disperse the crowd, and to arrest them. They upheld the principles of
non-violent struggle and remained calm and well-disciplined.
Out of frustration, some of the State’s “public-opinion spinners” also
made up flyers containing defamatory remarks cursing and insulting
blogger Truong Van Dung, who was among the civil campaign participants
in Hanoi, hoping to provoke angry reaction from the bloggers’ community.
When the campaigners tried to enter the Office of Congress located at 22
Hung Vuong Street, a security guard stopped them and refused to accept
their letter addressed to the National Assembly. He told the campaigners
to instead take their request to the civil reception office of the
Executive Government located at 1 Ngo Thi Nham Street.
The National Assembly is the highest authority of the State, which
supposedly represents the voices and aspirations of the people but when
the people try to exercise their civil rights, they are constantly
suppressed, insulted, and assaulted, even chased after by police cars
equipped with loudspeakers to verbally harrass them.
In Saigon, the same blockage and surveillance had occurred the night
before October 15, 2014. Early Wednesday morning, police concentrated
heavily on all the blocks surrounding Hoang Van Thu Street. The Office
of Congress was fenced off, its gate was locked, and there was no sign
of activities. Security police was present in large mass and their
hired-hands also dominated the place.
Congress Office in Saigon was fenced off, its gate was locked.
At 9am, in response to calls for participation, the Land Petitioners
Solidarity Movement with some 30 members from several Western provinces
arrived in Saigon to join in the march to present the common request to
the National Assembly. Upon their arrival at the location, hundreds of
police and security men and women rushed over to oppress them violently.
The petitioners were beaten savagely, their phones were snatched, and
their female group leader, Ms. Tran Thi Hoang, and 11 others were
detained and carried back to their provinces by force.
According to the “We Want To Know” campaign organizers, based on
past experiences, they were not surprised at all by the security
police’s behaviours. They continued calling for more people to
participate in the campaign and firmly believed that this was only the
beginning of a long process which was not only to advocate for the right
to know, but also to prove to the people of Vietnam as well as expose
to the free world the wrongdoings of the Vietnamese authorities:
- Security police tried by all means to prevent Vietnamese citizens from
exercising their most basic civil rights: to request to be heard as
voters; to express their aspirations, as constituents, to members of
Congress, who were supposed to be their representatives.
- Members of the National Assembly shut their doors and hid behind
closed walls so as not to receive the people’s legitimate requests.
- Obviously the Chengdu Conference contained improper and damaging terms
for Vietnam’s national interests, and the authorities had been trying
hard to hide it since 1990; even the citizens’ rightful request for
disclosure was also suppressed and denied.
0 comments:
Post a Comment