Protesters in Vietnam say history should not be repeated in Iraq
HANOI - More than 2,000 people attended officially
organized rallies in Vietnam against a possible American-led war in Iraq,
expressing sympathy for the Iraqi people while recalling their nation's own
painful memories of war with the United States, an organizer said
Wednesday.
At a meeting Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City, about 1,000 students and other
young people held banners reading, "No war, we want peace for the Iraqi
people,'' said a spokesman for the city's Communist Youth Union, which
organized the event.
They also chanted "Ho Chi Minh City's youth against war. Peace for the
Iraqi people,'' which was written along with their signatures on a long silk
banner that is to be delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, the spokesman
said.
Also Tuesday, more than 1,000 people chanted anti-war messages at a
meeting organized by the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Communist Party's
umbrella organization, at the Cultural Friendship Palace in Hanoi.
A resolution adopted there read, "As a country that experienced many years
of war ... the Vietnamese people greatly sympathize and support the Iraqi
people,'' state-controlled media reported Wednesday.
All such protests in Vietnam must be approved by the ruling Communist
Party.
Vietnam, which fought the United States in a war which ended in 1975, has
opposed any war against Iraq and demanded that U.N. weapons inspectors
be given more time to search for Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
The Associated Press - February 19, 2003.
Vietnamese Lawyers and people protest war on Iraq
HANOI - Vietnamese lawyers strongly backed a political solution to settle disputes in the world in general and the Iraqi issue in particular.
The lawyers, who were calling for respect for national independence, sovereignty, the United Nations Charter and international laws at a conference on Wednesday. They discussed international laws and the Iraqi situation, called on the UN and the UN Security Council to obligate fully its responsibilities that were defined in the UN Charter in the interest of the
human kind, for peace and security of nations.
The lawyers, who are members of the Viet Nam Lawyers Association and the Ha Noi chapter, expressed their wish for no war again Iraq.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 representatives of people of all walks of life in Ho Chi Minh City held a meeting in support of peace for the Iraqi people.
The participants issued a resolution at the end of the meeting, demanding international organisations, particularly the UN, to protect peace and freedom for each nation in the world.
They strongly condemned the US and British administrations for preparing to stage an aggressive war against Iraq and requested them to respect the national independence and sovereignty of other nations, first Iraq. The meeting was jointly held by the municipal Fatherland Front, the Viet Nam Union of Friendship Organisations, and the City Peace Committee.
The Thua Thien-Hue province in central Viet Nam also held a meeting to protest against war on Iraq. Participants passed an appeal to call on all concerned parties to join hands in preventing war and seeking a fair solution to the Iraqi issue in accordance with the UN charter and international laws.
Vietnam News Agency - February 19, 2003.
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