Vietnamese leader calls on police to stop political parties forming
DPA - 18 Aug 2010
Hanoi - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has called on police to ensure no alternative political parties are formed that might threaten the control of the communist government, state media reported Wednesday.
In a speech Tuesday at a ceremony marking the 65th anniversary of the public security forces, he told police to fight the "cunning plots of hostile forces," the police newspaper Cong An Nhan Dan reported. "The police are determined not to allow political opposition parties to be established to oppose our government," Dung said.
The official Vietnam News said Dung congratulated police for having "ceaselessly strengthened their solid political spirit and loyalty to the party, state and the people."
On August 13, Ho Chi Minh City police arrested Pham Minh Hoang, 55, a maths professor, on charges of belonging to the banned foreign-based political group Viet Tan.
The government often steps up arrests of political activists in the period preceding the Communist Party congress, which takes place once every five years. The next one is slated for the first half of 2011.
Vietnam Human Rights Network |