Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 10, 1995 TAG: 9503100070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The mostly male, mostly Vietnamese protesters came to the City Market from as far away as Washington, D.C., and Maryland because they heard that a delegation of Vietnamese officials was planning to eat dinner at the Asian-French Cafe in the Market building. About half the group, including two American Vietnam War veterans, was from Roanoke.
The official delegation, headed by Thai Phung Ne, Vietnam's minister of energy, came to Roanoke for its first stop on the Vietnam Infrastructure Investment Summit. The delegates also will attend conferences in Atlanta and San Francisco.
Across the street from the restaurant, protestors carried signs that said "Human Rights for Vietnam Now!" Many wore yellow and red vests - the colors of the South Vietnamese flag - that said "Religious Freedom for Vietnam."
"We'd like to send a message to Virginia government that our voice is for freedom, human rights and democracy in Vietnam," said Quyen Le, president of the Vietnamese Community of Washington, D.C.; Maryland; and Virginia. He said since the trade embargo against Vietnam was lifted last year, the "Hanoi communist regime" has been trying to win the favor of the American public through business.
Le said Americans should be using their business contacts with communist leaders to exact political change in his home country.
He said since he fled Vietnam by boat in 1975, just after the fall of Saigon, and became one of the 1 million Vietnamese refugees in America, he has felt a responsibility to fight for the rights of the 17 million people still in his homeland.
The Vietnamese delegation was supposed to have showed up at 6 p.m., but by 6:15, it became apparent to Le and the others that the group wasn't coming.
Inside the Asian-French Cafe, owner Steve Nguyen said the delegation got wind of the protest and cancelled its reservation two days ago. It held its reception at the Jefferson Club instead.
But Nguyen still asked the Market Building's security officer to stand in his restaurant just in case the protest got out of hand. He said he became scared when first told of the protest.
Nguyen is Vietnamese, and the husband of one of his cooks was among the protesters, but he distanced himself from the protestors' motives.
"That group came here on business. It had nothing to do with politics," he said. "I'm not a political man. I just run a business. We don't like communists. Nobody does."
Back outside, Le was disappointed to hear that the delegation wasn't coming, but said the trip wasn't wasted.
"Anywhere we can sing our song and wave our flag for freedom and democracy, we love to do it," he said.
by CNB