Vietnamese journalist assaulted, land protesters came to aid

Saigon

Saigon , 11:30 PM, July 14, 2007

At 9:00 AM, about 200 aggrieved citizens marched on the street of Saigon. They walked toward the Prime Minister, Mr Nguyen Tan Dung’s residence on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street. The police tried to stop the protesters from coming through however, after a tensed confrontation, the police yielded and the protesters marched on.

At 2:00 PM, a journalist while recorded his story at the scene of the protest in front of the National Assembly Office II, a plain-clothed policeman came demanding to confiscate his recorder and the tape. Despites showing his media identification, the policeman insisted and then later punched the journalist in the face. Seeing the journalist was bleeding from his mouth, the protesters came to to his aid. The plain-clothed policeman took off, leaving at the scene his motorcycle license number 52U46702.

Eventhough today is Saturday, aggrieved citizens are still coming from many provinces, filling up the whole court yard of the National Assembly II.

The protest is on its 23rd day and continues.

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