Vietnamese pop concert in Anaheim is target of protest
About 2,500 angry demonstrators rallied outside a Vietnamese pop
music concert Sunday at the Sun Theatre in Anaheim. The concert and
protest underscored a widening cultural divide between some older
refugees and younger Vietnamese Americans.
Protest organizers and others said the concert was no more than
propaganda for the current communist government. Waving American
and old South Vietnamese flags, they heckled cars entering the theater
parking lot, and stomped on mannequins of Ho Chi Minh and other
communist leaders. Several wore their former military uniforms.
"This is not a cultural show. . . . Communists have no culture and no art,"
said Ky Ngo of Garden Grove, a rally spokesperson. But the show's
organizer, John To of San Diego, said the lineup included internationally acclaimed Vietnamese
musicians, and that love songs, not politics, were on the evening's program. To, 38, who left
Vietnam in 1975, expressed sympathy for the demonstrators, many of them older people who were
forced to flee during or after the war.
"They have family who died in the war, and they have deep hatred for communists," To said. "I'm of
a younger generation. I don't want to look back, I want to move on and open up and show these
people what freedom is all about."
To said about 600 to 700 people bought tickets to the concert. It was not clear if everyone
attended.
The crowd outside was far larger. By 5 p.m., police said about 2,500 people were crowded onto
sidewalks. The rally remained peaceful as about 100 Anaheim police officers kept protesters away
from concert-goers.
But there were tense moments. After the concert, police escorted most of the audience out a back
door to their cars. One older woman and a girl who had parked in front of the theater were verbally
accosted by demonstrators shouting, "Go home communists."
By Evan Halper - The Los Angeles Times - August 20, 2001.
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