2004 Central Highlands riots

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The 2004 Central Highlands riots in Central Highlands was one of the most renowned uprising in contemporary modern history of Vietnam. It began from 10 and escalated to 11 April when the Vietnamese police and army were deployed to disperse the protesters. The rebellion left two deaths and hundred injured, and is known to be one of the deadliest anti-Vietnamese unrest in modern Vietnam. As it was coincided with the Easter festival in Christian calendar, with most Montagnards are Protestants, it was known as Easter rebellion among exiled Montagnards.

Background

The Montagnards were originally indigenous mountain people of the Central Highlands mountains in modern Vietnam, and had been independent for most of history, until being absorbed by the Vietnamese in 19th century. But it was the French rule that saw massive arrival of Vietnamese to the region. The French colonial rule utilized the divide and conquer policy, and succeeded in establishing a French-loyal ally, the Montagnards. Subsequent French Indochina War to Vietnam War and rampant Vietnamese nationalism resulting with hostilities between Vietnamese majority and the small minority Montagnards, resulting with economic impoverishment. The Montagnards had rebelled against both the South Vietnamese rule and later, the unified communist government, and was met with fierce crackdown from the Vietnamese regardless political affiliations. Despite strong repression from the communist regime, the Montagnards once again rioted against Vietnamese rule in February 2001, which gave prelude to the 2004 uprising.

Rebellion

Prelude

Kok Ksor, a Montagnard activist called for independence of the mountainous tribes from the Vietnamese and establishment of the Montagnard state since 2000, sought to promote culture and human rights for the Montagnards via the Montagnard Foundation, Inc.. Ksor also called for unity under the Christian banner against Vietnamese rule, accusing Vietnam for ongoing oppression of Degars, and had shared support for the tribes in the 2001 rebellion. The Vietnamese Government regarded his activities as a rioting act.

Riots

Ongoing land grab by the majority Kinh people has become a concern since 2000s for the Montagnards. On 10 April 2004, thousands of Montagnards engaged in protests against government policies in three provinces of the Central Highlands region (Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông and Kon Tum) of the country. These events came some three years after an unprecedented series of protests by members of ethnic minority groups in the same area. The Montagnards protested in peace, with demands of political and religious freedom, as well as economic rights, something that was sought back in 2001. However, the peaceful demonstration soon became increasingly violent, when some Montagnard nationalist infiltrated into the peaceful protests throwing rocks and even clashing with locals, though the riot was seen as more organized than 2001 event. Video recorded from 2004 showing protesters and police confronted with each other, with growing angers from the Montagnards against police.

The growing violence has resulted with a number of casualties, and quickly became concerns of the state. The Vietnamese Government then ordered a complete blockade of the Highlands, and banning foreigners from entering the region. Amnesty International had claimed that members of the security services, in coordination with men in civilian clothing, attacked demonstrators using disproportionate force including tear gas, electric batons, and water canon as well as crude weapons such as metal bars, machetes and chains, resulting in large numbers of dead and injured. State-run media in Vietnam denied these accusation, instead holding the U.S.-based Montagnard Foundation as the source of the riot. Eventually, the rebellion would meet with strong repression a day later, thus marked the end of the short-lived rebellion.

Aftermath

The Vietnamese government immediately dismissed its wrongdoings, rather accusing exiled Montagnards as the problem leading to the riots. State-run media then pointed against the Montagnard exiles that they promised money to rebel in order to escape to Cambodia and settled in the United States. Hanoi also suspended the observing position of the Transnational Radical Party as Hanoi believed the TRP had done nothing to prevent the violence. Further, Vietnamese state media still considered it as an rebellious act by the already-dissolved FULRO.

Montagnards that participated in the riots found itself no sanctuary in Vietnam, and had fled in number to Cambodia. The Cambodian Government initially welcomed them, but growing Vietnamese political pressure forced Cambodia to close these detention centres. These centres eventually closed in 2011. Amnesty International believed that the number of casualties might be incorrect, given state censorship in Vietnam, and believed over 10 to 15 people might have been killed in the riots.

Some Montagnard refugees expressed its wish to not settle in a third country, even though they were afraid of Vietnamese state persecution. Overseas Vietnamese, while opposing the communist rule as the Montagnards, were divided on the riots, with some characterized it as a rebellion and accusing Montagnards for inciting separatism from Vietnam.

Legacy

The riots were a whitewashing moment in the modern Vietnamese history, as Vietnam had just been rejoining the global economy since 1986. For years, the high hope from the Đổi mới reforms had allowed Vietnam to regain a place in world's community. The riots however shattered Vietnam's image, and mounting the already-tense political situation in the communist country. The riots forced Vietnam to close the region for a year, until 2005 when foreigners were allowed to go back to the region for tourist purposes. However, the region remained under partial lockdown, with police patrolling the region, until lifted completely in 2007 to serve the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. The protest, today, is taught in Vietnam as an act of Montagnard separatism and terrorism by FULRO. For Montagnard people, this greatly antagonized them and the Vietnamese, alienated them from Vietnamese interests.

Ethnic tensions between Montagnard minority and Vietnamese majority increased in the aftermath of the riots. Montagnards frequently accused Vietnamese government for financing the Kinh settlers to displace Montagnards, and reducing Montagnard homeland. Ongoing human rights left some concerns for foreign dignitaries for Vietnam's commitment to human rights, but economic deal was later put above despite pressure from the U.S. Senates or European Senates, largely due to Vietnamese diaspora opposing the protests.

References

Template:Vietnamese protests and rallies

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