Politicians in Saigon beaten

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33775, 22 February 1975, Page 15

Politicians in Saigon beaten

(By

BOB TAM ARKIN.

of the "Chicago Daily News,"

through N.Z.P.A.)

SAIGON, February 20.

Four members of the House of Representatives, including Mrs Kieu Mong Thu, an outspoken opponent of President Nguyen Van Thieu, were beaten by police this morning.

The representatives were leading a group of protesting relatives of 18 jouranlists, arrested as Communist infiltrators, to the civil courts. The journalists have not been allowed to see their families or legal counsel since their arrest on February 3.

As police moved in to disperse the group, Mrs Thu said, she identified herself and her colleagues as members of the House, but police would not listen. She said that she was thrown into the back of a Jeep and kicked in the chest and side as the other deputies, Phan Xuan Huy, Hk Ngoc Nhuan and Dinh Xuan Dung were beaten with fists.

A reporter from an Opposition paper closed by the Government was also beaten.

Mrs Thu, a slim 39-year-old mother of six, said it is not the first time she has been beaten by police, but “it’s the worst one I’ve had.”

“Several months ago, when the police arrested some newsmen. I ended up with a broken arm, after they (the police) attacked me during a protest rally. And Deputy Dung had a leg broken by the police once before,” she said.

Of the four female representatives in the Lower House. Mrs Thu is the only Opposition member. She is serving her second term, and was first elected to the House m 1967 from Hue. A former school-teacher and journalist, Mrs Thu joined the militant An Quang Buddhist sect in 1963. “From then on ybu could see me at

all demonstrations and struggles,” she said. In the last months, Mrs Thu has shown her Opposition to the Thieu Government in many ways. Mrs Thu writes a daily column called “The Faith of Woman” for “Dai Dan Toe” (Great Nation), a Vietnameselanguage Opposition paper. It is the only Opposition paper still published in Saigon, since the Government closed five papers on February 3 when the 18 journalists were arrested.