Vietnam Celebrates 35th Anniversary of Communist Victory
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Local residents and foreigners walk in downtown Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after the end of soldiers' march commemorating the 35th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war (AP).
(L to R) Vietnam War photographer Hoang Van Cuong, left, a former UPI photographer, Pete Arnett, a former AP war correspondent, and Nick Ut, an AP Pulitzer-winning photographer, have a light moment in a reunion at Majestic hotel, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. They met as part of a reunion of journalists and photographers who worked in Vietnam during the Vietnam War (AP).
In Friday's re-enactment of the war's end, everyone in the former Saigon greeted the Communist troops with jubilation. A tank replica rolled by and soldiers in white uniforms goose-stepped their way down the former Reunification Boulevard, later renamed Le Duan Street after a former Communist Party chief (Reuters).
Battalions of soldiers marched by carrying rifles and wearing the black-and-white checkered scarves made famous by the former Viet Cong guerrillas. Patriotic songs blared, some to a pulsing disco beat (AP).
In a reminder of how the Communist Party retains a strong grip on the flow of information despite the opening of the economy, foreign journalists were forbidden from conducting interviews along the parade route. The area was sealed off from ordinary citizens, apparently due to security concerns (AP).
President Nguyen Minh Triet was joined at the parade by leaders and dignitaries from Cuba, Russia and neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Most of those in the crowd were war veterans, party cadres and others selected by local communist organizations (AP).
Vietnamese students hold signs forming Communist Party flag in Ho Chi Minh City (AP).
Soldiers are seen marching in line as Vietnam marked the 35th anniversary of the Communist victory in the Vietnam War with a grand military parade (AP).
Thousands of local residents and foreign travelers stand along the boulevards to see the Vietnamese soldiers' parade in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (AP).