Viet hunger cases rise

MEDICAL teams were kept busy at Tai A Chau Vietnamese detention centre yesterday as the number of hunger strikers admitted to the clinic doubled to 12.

Three men and three women were already in the clinic suffering from the side effects of depriving themselves of food, but yesterday another four men and two women were admitted. Hunger strikes and demonstrations have been continuing in the camps since February 8, shortly before an international meeting in Geneva endorsed clearing the camps by the end of next year and returning all non-refugees to Vietnam.