More Riots In Saigon

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31087, 16 June 1966, Page 15

More Riots In Saigon

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) SAIGON, June 15. South Vietnamese riot police, swinging clubs and rifles, smashed a Buddhist demonstration today, says United Press International. Earlier today, police used tear gas to break up a mob of Buddhists and youngsters in the third consecutive day of street violence. The Associated Press said that the noisy disorders were small in scale and had little outward effect on the life of Saigon. Police arrested a group of Buddhist monks who refused to move altars set up in a roadway outside a pagoda—a form of passive demonstration against the government. The government announced today that it would limit the power of the coming constituent assembly to writing a constitution. The decision could have the effect of prolonging the life of Premier Nguyen Cao Ky’s military regime for at least three, possibly six months. The announcement came as hundreds began an all-day fast in the northern rebel stronghold of Hue in memory of Buddhists killed last month fighting government troops.

The government announced that the assembly to be elected on September 1 will be dissolved after the promulgation of the constitution—thus preventing it from transforming itself into a lawmaking body and naming a civilian government. 123 Members Major-General Pham Xuan Chieu, secretary-general of the 20-man junta, said the assembly will have 123 members and not 159 as recommended by the electoral commission.

He said the junta “will be entrusted with endowing the

country with the various Institutions provided by the constitution during a period of three to six months from the day the constitution is promulgated.” Chieu said a legislative assembly that would name a civilian government would then be elected.

Thich Tri Quang, the Militant Buddhist monk who is leading the anti-government movement in the north, was reported to be steadily weakening this morning as he entered the second week of his hunger strike against American support for the Saigon military junta.