Two anti-China activists Nguyen Viet Dung and Do Thanh Van beaten by plainclothes agents in Hanoi on March 14
By Defend the Defenders, March 14, 2017
On March 14, security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi detained dozens of local anti-China activists as they tried to gather in the city’s center to mark the 29th anniversary of the loss of Gac Ma (Johnson South Reef) in the Truong Sa Islands (Spratlys) to China.
Veteran journalist Huynh Ngoc Chenh, bloggers Nguyen Thuy Hanh, Dang Bich Phuong, Tran Thi Thao, Le Hung and Phung The Dung and others were arrested by local police officers when they approached the King Ly Thai To monument, where patriotic activists often gather to pay tribute to fallen soldiers.
Police held them for hours and released them later on the same day.
Since the early evening of Monday, Hanoi’s authorities had been deploying large numbers of plainclothes agents and militia around the private residences of local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders to prevent them from going out to attend the commemorative event for the soldiers killed by China during its military invasion of Gac Ma.
Activists in Ho Chi Minh City faced the same situation.
Bloggers Nguyen Viet Dung and Do Thanh Van went to a police station in Back Khoa ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi to demand the release of teacher Tran Thi Thao. The two activists were attacked by plainclothes agents as police officers and militia stood by. As a result of the assault, the duo sustained severe injuries to their head and body.
Meanwhile, numerous intellectuals and former senior officials, including Lieutenant General Le Ma Luong and Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Quoc Thuoc demanded that Vietnam include the 1988 Gac Ma massacre and the 1979 Chinese invasion of the country’s six northernmost provinces in the students’ textbooks in order to teach the next generations about the country’s history and its relations with its northern neighbor.
On March 14, 1988, China’s naval forces killed 64 unarmed Vietnamese construction soldiers on Gac Ma and invaded the reef. Beijing later militarily invaded six other Vietnamese reefs in the Truong Sa Islands. In recent years, it turned all of them into seven artificial islands.
The invasion of Gac Ma was the first Chinese step to illegally occupy the Truong Sa.
However, the Gac Ma massacre is not mentioned in Vietnamese textbooks, while the brutal Chinese invasion of Vietnam’s six northernmost provinces is shortly described in historic textbooks.
While netizens have posted numerous articles on social networks about the Gac Ma massacre and the 1979 Chinese invasion, few state-run newspapers covered the news.
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March 14, 2017
Many Activists Detained, Two Beaten in Hanoi on 29th Anniversary of Gac Ma Massacre
by Nhan Quyen • [Human Rights], Do Thanh Van, Nguyen Viet Dung
Two anti-China activists Nguyen Viet Dung and Do Thanh Van beaten by plainclothes agents in Hanoi on March 14
By Defend the Defenders, March 14, 2017
On March 14, security forces in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi detained dozens of local anti-China activists as they tried to gather in the city’s center to mark the 29th anniversary of the loss of Gac Ma (Johnson South Reef) in the Truong Sa Islands (Spratlys) to China.
Veteran journalist Huynh Ngoc Chenh, bloggers Nguyen Thuy Hanh, Dang Bich Phuong, Tran Thi Thao, Le Hung and Phung The Dung and others were arrested by local police officers when they approached the King Ly Thai To monument, where patriotic activists often gather to pay tribute to fallen soldiers.
Police held them for hours and released them later on the same day.
Since the early evening of Monday, Hanoi’s authorities had been deploying large numbers of plainclothes agents and militia around the private residences of local political dissidents, social activists and human rights defenders to prevent them from going out to attend the commemorative event for the soldiers killed by China during its military invasion of Gac Ma.
Activists in Ho Chi Minh City faced the same situation.
Bloggers Nguyen Viet Dung and Do Thanh Van went to a police station in Back Khoa ward, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi to demand the release of teacher Tran Thi Thao. The two activists were attacked by plainclothes agents as police officers and militia stood by. As a result of the assault, the duo sustained severe injuries to their head and body.
Meanwhile, numerous intellectuals and former senior officials, including Lieutenant General Le Ma Luong and Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Quoc Thuoc demanded that Vietnam include the 1988 Gac Ma massacre and the 1979 Chinese invasion of the country’s six northernmost provinces in the students’ textbooks in order to teach the next generations about the country’s history and its relations with its northern neighbor.
On March 14, 1988, China’s naval forces killed 64 unarmed Vietnamese construction soldiers on Gac Ma and invaded the reef. Beijing later militarily invaded six other Vietnamese reefs in the Truong Sa Islands. In recent years, it turned all of them into seven artificial islands.
The invasion of Gac Ma was the first Chinese step to illegally occupy the Truong Sa.
However, the Gac Ma massacre is not mentioned in Vietnamese textbooks, while the brutal Chinese invasion of Vietnam’s six northernmost provinces is shortly described in historic textbooks.
While netizens have posted numerous articles on social networks about the Gac Ma massacre and the 1979 Chinese invasion, few state-run newspapers covered the news.