Coup Attempt In Saigon

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30278, 2 November 1963, Page 11

Coup Attempt In Saigon

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Coppripkt) SAIGON, November 1. South Vietnamese marines today seized the national police headquarters and Radio Saigon in an attempted coup against the Government. The marines, evidently only one battalion, were believed to be hoping that other units would join them.

Shooting * occurred in Saigon during the siesta hour but the situation was unclear, as round the palace of President Ngo Dinh Diem strengthened defences and prepared for an attack.

Radio Saigon was silent. At 3.30 p.in. Saigon time (7.30 a.m. G.M.T.) today there was heavy firing, including artillery, fire in the centre of the city.

The attempted coup came after more than two months of simmering crisis in the South-east Asian nation. President Ngo Dinh Diem has faced difficulties over his Catholic Government’s policies towards the nation’s Buddhist minority. He has Buddhist majority. He has States pressure, including economic pressure, to introduce reforms. The American-backed Government is also faced with a stiffening fight against Communist Viet Cong guerrillas. A radio broadcast from Datait, a hill resort about 150

miles north-east of Saigon, monitored in Singapore, saiid the military commander of the region today imposed a 9 pm. to 5 ajn. curfew. The commander appealed to all security forces to remain calm and loyal to the

The official Vietnam press agency, which yesterday informed recipients tliet its overseas news transmissions

would not be broadcast today (All Souls Day), was monitored in Singapore ait 9 a.m. GMT. and it carried Government statements dated October 30. U.N. Mission

Three members of the United Nations mission in South Vietnam returned yesterday from Hue, 400 miles from Saigon, where they had a marathon round of briefings and interviews the previous day. The mission yesterday went to a Saigon hospital where many Buddhists, at various times during and since the political-religious crisis, were treated after being injured by police during demonstrations.

The mission began interviews with Buddhists in some Saigon prisons two days ago. Mission officials said today the work of collecting facts was going very well. By tomorrow it might be possible to set a tentative departure date from Saigon.

Officials said the mission had no plans to make any further trips outside Saigon. ”We are more interested in seeing people than places, and we seem to be able to see most of the people we want to see here in Saigon,” one official said.

"We think our work is progressing pretty quickly. We are just collecting facts and making no attempt at present to digest them. That will be done when wc return to New York,” he said. The official said the report would contain much of the evidence gathered, probably with indications of what the mission considered the truth where accounts varied. He said the mission was aiming to have the report ready for presentation to the General Assembly by early December at the latest.