Vietnam bars foreign media from rare Hmong protest site
(AFP) – 7.05.2011
HANOI — Foreign journalists have been denied access to the scene of a rare ethnic Hmong protest in remote northwestern Vietnam, the government spokeswoman said Friday.
Vietnamese soldiers clashed with the demonstrators after thousands gathered in Dien Bien province calling for greater autonomy and religious freedom, a military source had earlier said.
"No one goes right now," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga told AFP, which requested permission to visit.
"It's not good for you to go there right now," she said.
Foreign reporters in Vietnam must have authorisation to work outside the capital Hanoi.
Nga blamed poor weather and said the road to the affected district of Muong Nhe is "very bad".
She added that local officials were too busy preparing for Saturday's ceremony to mark the May 7 anniversary of Vietnam's victory over French colonial forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
But Nga said the situation in the area had "stabilised".
The foreign ministry said Thursday in a statement that Hmong had gathered since early May and camped in unsanitary conditions believing that a "supernatural force" would arrive to lead them to "a promised land".
"Abusing the information, some people instigated and campaigned for the establishment of a separate kingdom of Hmong people, causing disorder, insecurity and an unsafe situation," it said.
The mainly Christian Hmong, among Vietnam's poorest people, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group who helped US forces against North Vietnam during the secret wartime campaign in Laos. They faced retribution after the communist takeover.
The military source told AFP on Thursday that the army sent troop reinforcements and "had to disperse the crowd by force".
He said there had been "minor clashes" but did not provide details of any casualties or the number of troops involved. Attempts to reach provincial and district leaders in the area on Friday were unsuccessful.
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