Martial Law In Saigon

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30610, 28 November 1964, Page 15

Martial Law In Saigon

Z P A -Renter—Copyright) SAIGON, Nov. 27. Martial law was decreed today in Saigon and the surrounding (ria Dinh Province, lor one month’s duration. A decree by the t hief of State. Phan Khac Suu, said that the armed forces are directly responsible for the security and order in Saigon and Gia Dinh and have been given control of the police. Civilians were ordered to hand over all weapons, ammunition. explosives and knives to the nearest military or police authorities.

Military- Court The decree forbids all work stoppages and strikes. An offence against public order and national security would be prosecuted in the military field court. Brigadier General Phan Van Dong, who has been appointed Military Governor of Saigon and Gia Dinh, ap-

-pealed to the people today to' I co-operate closely with the) I armed forces to restore law i and order and protect life] land property. j The present troubled situ-j iation in the capital could | only help the Communists j : infiltrate the nation’s ranks j 'to undermine and take over i ithe Government, Generali jDong said in his first com-1 Imunique. | To cope with such a situation, the Chief of State had ordered the one month of martial law in the capital and all of Gia Dinh Province. The military Governor of | Saigon, Gai Dinh, then called; on the population to obey I strictly the decree ordering martial law.

11 The armed forces were -determined to smash all plots jof the Communists and Neutralists to build democracy jfor the nation, he said. j The question of whether to bomb Communist supply I lines and training centres in ! Laos and North Vietnam hung lover Washington today, the “New York Times” News Service reported. Moscow Warns The problem was underscored by the arrival in Washington of the American | Ambassador, General MaxI well D. Taylor, who reportedly Jis proposing a programme . that includes such bombings, ' and by a warning from Mos- . cow today. The official news agency, Tass, said the Soviet Union would step in to the war in South Vietnam if the Comimunist North was bombed. I China previously has warned lof similar intervention.

There was not immediate official reaction to the tough Tass statement. General Taylor, who flew here from Saigon for highlevel strategy sessions, would not discuss whether he was in fact advocating the expansion of the South Vietnamese war against.the Viet Cong into the neighbouring countries. A Possibility But he said in answer to questions at the airport that bombings of the Viet Cong’s supply lines and training centres, even outside South Vietnam’s borders, always had been a possibility. He said his trip to Washington for discussions with President Johnson and other United States policy-makers had not suddenly made the bombing more likely. The Ambassador also denied that he was threatening to resign unless his proposals for resolving the war in South Vietnam were adopted.