Coverage of protest in HCM City
Stephen Denney srdenney at gmail.com
Sun May 15 15:18:20 PDT 2016
The following coverage is from Dan Vineberg:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT3G6r4Z51E
Steve Denney
Anthony Morreale amorreale22 at gmail.com
Mon May 16 04:52:14 PDT 2016
That same blog recapped yesterday's events.
Anthony Morreale
MA Asian Studies
UC Berkeley
Michael Gray maigray at yahoo.com
Mon May 16 06:17:15 PDT 2016
Hi Anthony,That blog is great. Kudos to whoever.
The FB profile mentioned in the post, "Thuy Trang Nguyen," belongs to an unknown individual who apparently has a track record of spilling the beans on inside information. She/he was reportedly the first to inform on Nguyen Ba Thanh's illness, and the supposed assassination of Phung Quang Thanh. Now she/he has an inside line on the tactics of HCM City police. The comments on the Thuy Trang posts are a mix of people pronouncing TT as a Viet Tan provocateur vs a roughly equal number claiming it's a Communist plant. Perhaps a double agent? Or a triple agent?
Meanwhile TT posts the occasional note saying they will 'unfriend' anyone who questions their integrity/veracity. It's amazing stuff.
Regards,Mike
Thaveeporn Vasavakul Thaveeporn at mail.kvsinter.com
Mon May 16 17:29:27 PDT 2016
Some additional information on issues related to the use of force and observations on the 15 May event in HCM City - I happened to be in HCM City then and had a bit of time to go around
On the use of force
- On 12 May (to be double checked), a petition against the use of force was sent to the government.
- On 14 May, local newspapers published articles on the “Viet Tan” involvement in the 1 May and 8 May demonstrations in HCM City. Here are some more articles in addition to the one posted.http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/34826/antigovt-groups-take-advantage-of-fish-deaths-to-incite-violence-vietnam-television; http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/34818/ho-chi-minh-city-party-chief-advises-people-not-to-complicate-security-situation; http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/34825/protesting-may-render-social-situations-more-complicated-vietnamese-interviewees
- Many FB pages rejected the government’s analysis of the “Viet Tan” involvement while many took a more moderate stance, asking for evidence and suggesting that the government provide favorable conditions for those genuinely wanting to voice their opinions.
Situation on Nguyen Hue Walking Street (which was a designated demonstration site) based on personal observations
- Nguyen Hue Walking Street was blocked on 15 May for "maintenance". By the time I went to Rex Hotel next to the City Hall at around 1.30 pm, the area had already been blocked. In early afternoon, I noticed workers in orange uniform trimming trees, testing the fountains, and fixing tiles. In the evening at around 6.30 pm, I saw them watering plants, cleaning the street, and testing underground decorative lights. There is a Tuoi Tre article published on 16 May about the maintenance of the Nguyen Hue Walk Way which will go on until the end of next month.http://tuoitrenews.vn/society/34812/repairs-to-ho-chi-minh-city-walking-street-start There were various types of security officers at every intersection leading to Nguyen Hue and at the end of the street facing the Saigon River. Nonetheless, tourists coming with tour buses as well as individual travelers, foreigners and Vietnamese staying at the hotels in the area, and those working at hotels and restaurants in the areas were allowed to go into the area.
- During the time when I was in the area from around 1.45 to 4.15 PM and from 6.30-8 PM, I did not notice any public gathering. I did not notice anybody staging a sit-in protest as discussed on many FB pages either. But I may just have have missed it! I have seen one-person sit-in pictures widely circulated on FB (also included in the "dathandoson" article sent) and I am still trying to figure out where exactly on the walk way the sit-in took place. The walk way has trees on both sides (see the picture from Thanh Nien http://thanhnien.vn/doi-song/pho-di-bo-nguyen-hue-ngung-hoat-dong-de-bao-duong-den-21-gio-1552016-702978.html) and a lot of poster stands towards the end of the street close to the Saigon River. The street section in the pictures posted has neither trees nor posters.
At the 23/9 Park
- I stopped by the 23/9 Park (which is along Pham Ngu Lao Street up to De Tham Street) at around 4.45 PM. If there had been demonstrations, I believe they would have been dispersed by then. I asked one of the security officers whether I could walk to Bui Vien. The responses were that staying on the pedestrian way was fine, not on the street or in the park area (there were a lot of people there). And no picture, please.
- I noticed the security people blocking vehicles from entering Pham Ngu Lao street close to Ben Thanh Market and those at those Pham Ngu Lao-Nguyen Thai Hoc intersection directing the traffic to stay on Nguyen Thai Hoc instead of making a turn to Pham Ngu Lao. (Pham Ngu Lao leads to De Tham which in turn leads to Bui Vien, as I understand it.) At the Pham Ngu Lao-Nguyen Thai Hoc intersection, a large number of people were watching as there was a lot of yelling (and resistance?) from vehicle owners.
- The De Tham- Bui Vien areas, designated as additional demonstration sites, looks undisturbed to me - a lot of tourists walking and dining. There were a lot of security people though.
Thaveeporn Vasavakul, Ph.D
GoSFI - Governance Support Facility Initiatives
www.gosfi.org
Dien Nguyen nguyendien519 at gmail.com
Tue May 17 01:41:08 PDT 2016
>> I did not notice anybody staging a sit-in protest as discussed on many
FB pages either. But I may just have have missed it! I have seen one-person
sit-in pictures widely circulated on FB (also included in the "dathandoson"
article sent) and I am still trying to figure out where exactly on the walk
way the sit-in took place.
Chị Thavee,
The person doing the sit-down protest was Huynh Ngoc Chenh.
Điền
Blogger Huỳnh Ngọc Chênh: Tôi sẽ không biểu tình vào ngày 22/5
Dana Doan dana_doan16 at yahoo.com
Tue May 17 02:59:52 PDT 2016
The location was at the intersection of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi.
Sent from my iPhone
Thaveeporn Vasavakul Thaveeporn at mail.kvsinter.com
Tue May 17 16:09:48 PDT 2016
Thanks Anh Dien and Dana. Here is an update for those interested as of 18 May. Sorry for the details.
1. Not being a HCM City inhabitant, I checked the City plan for the improvement of the Nguyen Hue Street. The plan shows that the street design as seen in the picture posted in the articlehttps://dathanhdoson.com/2016/05/16/decisive-state-repression-an-account-of-hit-the-streets-for-the-environment-week-3/ is the area called “H? Tròn” located close to Mac Thi Buoi.
2. Recently, there have been a few more images coming out, including
- Additional 14 pictures (similar to the one in the article cited in 1).
- A number of pictures sent by one or more observers and posted on Mr. Chenh’s FB.
- A short video clip of the H? Tròn area on You Tube with a BBC logo on it at the end. The quality is poor and I could not see whether the protester was in there.
If you are on FB, you could easily find and compare them.
3. The interview given by Mr. Chenh posted on his blog and shared by Anh Nguyen Dien (http://www.rfa.org/vietnamese/in_depth/blogger-hnc-iam-not-going-protest-day-pre-obama-visit-vn-05162016150346.html) and the short video clip (with the BBC logo) indicate that the protester was in the area between 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Thaveeporn Vasavakul, Ph.D
GoSFI - Governance Support Facility Initiatives
Dien Nguyen nguyendien519 at gmail.com
Wed May 18 05:14:52 PDT 2016
Facebook blocked in Vietnam over the weekend due to citizen protests
Michael Gray maigray at yahoo.com
Wed May 18 07:58:04 PDT 2016
Hi Dien and others,
The Techcrunch story below quotes the Israeli company Hola, which states that 200,00 Vietnamese have downloaded their VPN service. Hola was certainly quick to put out a press release touting their service to Vietnamese users:
All Vietnamese and internet users in Vietnam should know that there are serious security concerns with the Hola VPN. It uses a unique peer-to-peer structure unlike other VPNs. This opens your computer to potential viruses, in the manner of letting your computer be used as a botnet. Here is a CNET article that goes into more detail:
http://www.cnet.com/news/security-researchers-claim-hola-operates-as-insecure-botnet/
All our friends and contacts in Vietnam should avoid Hola. There are much better free VPN options on the market, such as Zenmate, Hotspot Shield and Psiphon (I have no connection to those companies). The first two tunnel only your browser. I believe Psiphon can tunnel your entire internet connection (so Skype and other internet-connected programs are tunnelled in addition to your browser).
Regards,Mike Gray