VIGIL IN SQUARE

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32351, 17 July 1970, Page 5

VIGIL IN SQUARE

Vietnam War Protest

The Christchurch Joint Council on Vietnam will hold a two-hour vigil in front of the Cathedral kerb in the Square, between noon and 2 p.m. today. The vigil would be held as evidence of the council’s continued opposition to the war in Vietnam, and of its support of the Vietnamese people’s struggle for national sovereignty and peace, free from interference by other nations, said the chairman of the council (the Rev. Dr M. A. McDowell). “July 20 is the anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Agreement in 1954, by the nations convened to settle affairs in Vietnam after the war with France," said Dr McDowell Hope Of Peace

“The hope expressed in this agreement was that peace would come to Vietnam, which had suffered for some years through warfare. To achieve this end, a clause was inserted in the agreement providing for a free election in 1956, for the whole of the Vietnamese people under the supervision of the International Control Commission.

“Unfortunately, this election was never held because of the operations of South Vietnam and the United States, who feared a win for communism,” said Dr McDowell. “This led to the continuation of the struggle of the Vietnamese for their independence, and an increasing interference on the part of the United States in Vietnam affairs—resulting in the war that has apalled the world with its violence, suffering and death.”