Westminster Protest’s Scope and Support Spread

Seeking to build on protests over a display of Communist symbols in Little Saigon, a group of Vietnamese clergy and intellectual leaders spoke out Tuesday about human rights violations in their homeland.

Meanwhile, additional support for the protest came from a new source outside the Vietnamese American community: county Republican leaders, who say they will show up at the protest site this afternoon to support demonstrators and call for the Communist symbols to be removed.

“The GOP stands with its neighbors, the Vietnamese community, as they protest the symbols of Communist atrocities that were forced upon the people of Vietnam,” said county GOP chairman Thomas A. Fuentes.

The Republicans, offering the first show of support by a mainstream political group, plan to present protesters outside Truong Van Tran’s Bolsa Avenue video store with a resolution passed by the state party at its convention last Sunday praising their opposition.

The Vietnamese clergy and intellectuals who spoke at a news conference Tuesday said they hope protests over Tran’s display of a Communist flag and poster of the late Ho Chi Minh will lead to an effort focusing public attention on Vietnamese government atrocities that underlie the community’s anger.

The six professionals--including a poet, the head of a Vietnamese physicians group and a Buddhist monk--said the Vietnamese government has attacked church organizations by sending priests to “re-education camps” and seizing church buildings. Vietnam continues to arrest those who disagree with the government, they said.

One speaker also urged Vietnamese Americans not to visit Vietnam or send money to relatives there, because those actions would ultimately help the Communist government.

On Monday, Tran sought to return to his store, but protesters spit on him and threw an egg at his face before police dragged him away kicking and yelling.

Tran’s attorney on Tuesday complained that police did not provide his client with adequate protection. Attorney Peter Eliasberg, of the American Civil Liberties Union, claimed that Tran notified police Sunday night that he planned to return, contradicting police statements that they had only 30 minutes’ notice.

“He was surprised . . . to see how little police presence was there,” Eliasberg said.

Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis t said a command post was staffed by 80 to 85 officers over the weekend in case of trouble at the protests, which drew crowds Friday and Saturday nights. But when Tran arrived at Hi Tek TV and VCR Monday morning, police were caught with only regular staffing of about 10 officers available, he said.

The scene was largely quiet on Tuesday, apart from an incident involving a man who waved a cardboard picture of the Vietnamese flag and Ho.

One protester snatched the picture away from the man, who later filed a theft report. George Clifton of Los Angeles said he isn’t a communist but is a Vietnam veteran angered by protesters’ behavior.

Police removed him from the scene after some in the crowd began spitting on him, saying it was for his own safety.