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Watch: Large protests in Vietnam over China oil rig
Vietnam allowed several hundred demonstrators to stage a noisy rally outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi yesterday against Beijing's deployment of an oil rig in the contested South China Sea that has triggered a tense stand-off and raised fears of confrontation.
The country's authoritarian leaders keep a very tight grip on public gatherings for fear they could attract anti-government protesters.
This time, they appeared to give in to public anger that also provided them with the opportunity to register their own indignation at Beijing.
"This is the largest anti-Chinese demonstration I have ever seen in Hanoi," said war veteran Dang Quang Thang, 74.
"Our patience has limits. We are here to express the will of the Vietnamese people to defend our territory at all costs. We are ready to die to protect our nation."
Other protests, including one drawing more than 1,000 people in Ho Chi Minh City, took place in various locations around the country. For the first time, they were reported on enthusiastically by the state media.
The government has in the past forcibly broken up anti-China protests and arrested their leaders, many of whom are also campaigning for greater political freedoms and human rights.

Faced with "widespread anger" among the Vietnamese population over China's actions, the government had no option but to allow yesterday's protests to go ahead, said Professor Jonathan London at City University of Hong Kong.
"Suppressing public protest against what has occurred would be regarded as absolutely illegitimate behaviour," he said.
Vietnam's government immediately protested against the deployment of the oil rig on May 1, and sent a flotilla that was unable to break through a circle of more than 50 Chinese vessels protecting the facility. The Vietnamese coastguard released video of Chinese vessels ramming and firing water cannons at Vietnamese ships.

"We are infuriated by the Chinese actions," said Nguyen Xuan Hien, a lawyer who printed his own placard reading "Get Real. Imperialism is so 19th century". "We have come here so that the Chinese people can understand our anger," he said.
The latest confrontation in the disputed Paracel Islands, which China occupied from US-backed South Vietnam in 1974, has raised fears that tensions could escalate.
Vietnam says the islands fall within its continental shelf and a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone. China claims sovereignty over the area and most of the South China Sea - a position that has brought Beijing in confrontation with other claimants, including the Philippines and Malaysia.

	We have come here so that the Chinese people can understand our anger

	Nguyen Xuan Hien, lawyer
The protest yesterday was the largest since 2011, when a Chinese vessel cut seismic survey cables leading to a Vietnamese oil exploration ship. Vietnam sanctioned protests for a few weeks, but then broke them up after they became a forum of anti-government sentiment.
In the past, journalists covering protests have been harassed and sometimes beaten and protesters bundled into vans.
It was a different scene yesterday in a park across the road from the Chinese mission, where speakers atop police vans were broadcasting accusations that China's actions violated the country's sovereignty. State television was on hand to record the event and men were handing out banners saying "We entirely trust the party, the government and the people's army."
While some demonstrators were clearly linked to the state, many others were ordinary Vietnamese outraged by China's actions. Some activists chose to stay away because of the state's involvement or implicit sanction of the event, according to online postings by dissident groups, but others showed up.
Watch: US senators: China sea actions 'deeply troubling’

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


Vietnam allows anti-China protest over oil rig in disputed territory

An anti-China protester holds up a poster about the oil rig in front of policemen blocking a street leading to the Chinese consulate in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: AFP

Protesters hold banners and shout anti-China slogans during a rally against China in Hanoi. Photo: EPA

Protesters at the rally against China in Hanoi. Photo: EPA

A Chinese coastguard vessel uses water cannon on a Vietnamese Sea Guard ship on the South China Sea near the Paracels islands. Photo: Reuters

Protesters wave Vietnamese flags and shout slogans in front of the Chinese embassy during a rally in Hanoi yesterday. Photo: AFP

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Angry demonstrators stage noisy rallies outside Chinese missions in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City


Vietnam allowed several hundred demonstrators to stage a noisy rally outside the Chinese embassy in Hanoi yesterday.
