Protesters Accuse Vietnam of Rights Violations

In one of the largest rallies ever attended by Vietnamese expatriates, more than 5,000 people turned out Sunday morning to protest what they say are widespread human rights violations and religious persecutions in their native land.

The protest march, held at the Santa Ana Stadium, followed a one-hour Catholic Mass during which worshipers commemorated the Vatican’s 1988 canonization of 117 Vietnamese martyrs.

Although such a service has been held every year since 1989, organizers said Sunday’s event took on special significance because it came in the wake of several incidents of civil unrest in Vietnam.

Those in attendance said they want to keep attention focused on the alleged religious and political oppression by their homeland’s communist regime. And Sunday provided an opportunity for Orange County’s Vietnamese community--the largest outside Vietnam--to show solidarity with their native kin.

“The people in Vietnam can’t do what we are doing here,” said 22-year-old Thanh Ngo, referring to the protesters who marched without fear of political repercussions. “We are really supportive of them. I’m sure they know we are trying to help them.”

Though police estimated that about 5,000 people attended the rally, organizers said at least 8,000 people were present for the service and march.

Waving South Vietnamese flags, chanting “Freedom for Vietnam” with anti-communist signs tied around their necks, the protesters were optimistic that their actions would be noticed in Vietnam.

Sunday’s event, organized by the Vietnamese Laity Movement, was the second anti-Vietnamese government rally in Orange County in recent months. In September, more than 2,000 Vietnamese immigrants gathered along Bolsa Avenue in Westminster for the same cause.