By Michael Woods, Ottawa Citizen
The city’s decision to fly Vietnam’s flag at Ottawa City Hall on Tuesday drew the ire of protesters who say the flag is offensive to people who fled Vietnam and settled in Canada.
Around 100 demonstrators walk to Ottawa City Hall a to protest the City of Ottawa’s decision to fly the communist flag of Vietnam to mark the country’s day of independence. The protesters would like to see the city honour the Freedom Flag of Vietnam. Photo by Darren Brown / Ottawa Citizen
The flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, a red flag with a gold star, flew outside city hall in recognition of the country’s national day.
Flying another country’s flag is a routine practice at city hall, where over the course of a year 120 flags are flown to commemorate national days. But Tuesday’s protesters, some of whom fled Vietnam during and after the war, say the flag represents a communist regime and that the city is glorifying it.
“The flag of the communist regime being flown here today is something that represents a government that denies human rights,” said Kalvin Nhan of Canadian Youth for Human Rights in Vietnam, which organized the protest.
“We don’t believe that it should be flown side by side with the Canadian flag, something that represents freedom and hope.”
That group organized a gathering of about 100 peaceful protesters, many of them who came from Toronto and Montreal, at the human rights monument on Elgin Street on Tuesday afternoon. Many of them carried signs comparing the Vietnamese flag to the Nazi flag.
Protesters waved a gold flag with three red stripes, which is called the Vietnamese Heritage and Freedom flag. It’s used by many Vietnamese expatriates, and it was the flag of South Vietnam prior to the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Phat Nguyen, 60, who fled Vietnam by boat in late 1982, said seeing the flag evokes the emotions he felt decades ago, and brings back memories of the suffering he witnessed.
“We’re here to demonstrate against the City of Ottawa because they think they fly the Vietnam communist flag doesn’t have any effect, but actually, it really affects us,” he said. “By flying the flag like this, it doesn’t make us feel good. Why do they have to fly the flag?”
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