THE SITUATION IN SOUTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A000800010007-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: May 26, 1966
• Content Type: IM

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OCI No. 1491/66
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
26 May 1966
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
The Situation in South Vietnam
S of 9:30 21,M. EDT3
Late Developments
General Nhuan, the commander of the ARVN 1st
Division in the Hue area, informed a senior US
military officer that he has ordered one battalion
of the Division under the command of Colonel Khoa
into Hue tonight (Vietnam time) presumably to pro-
text the Consulate and Americans. An earlier phone
call from MACV noted that the 2nd Battalion of the
3rd Regiment of the 1st Division was reported to be
moving toward Hue.
According to a Consulate report, students in
Hue are planning an attack on the Consulate by mid-
night tonight Vietnam time. Americans on the streets
in Hue reportedly will be attacked starting on the
morning of 27 May.
ARMY and DOS review(s) completed.
GROUP I
Excluded from automatic
downgrading and
declassification
I
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Hue
1. At approximately 4:30 P.M. on the afternoon
of 26 May (Vietnam time), a student mob entered the
USIS libary in Hue, sacked it, and burned books and
furniture in the yard just outside, according to
Hue Consular officers. Approximately one hour later,
Tri Quang broadcast an appeal over Radio Hue to the
students to "limit" their ransacking, contain their
anger, and go home.
2. The chief of the Hue police, along with
about 20 policemen, watched the sacking after having
been informed earlier of its likelihood. The build-
ing had been evacuated on reports that it, along
with the Voice of America transmitter site and the
Consulate itself, would be probable targets of the
increasing anti-Americanism expressed by the Hue
"struggle" forces
3. Earlier in the day, a funeral procession of
approximately 7,000 Buddhist followers and soldiers
in honor of the ARVN lieutenant killed on 17 May
passed by the US Consulate. Mourners carried anti-
American banners and, according to a Consular officer,
threatened-to raid the Consulate. Tri Quang watched
the procession which filed by other Buddhist and
"struggle" movement notables.
4. Bui Tuong Huan, rector of Hue University
and an influential Buddhist layman, reportedly spoke
to the crowd earlier at one of the pagodas. He ap-
pealed to the people of the United States to urge
their government to abandon the policy of "obsolete
colonialism." The remnants of the hunger strike
students who had impeded traffic into the Consulate
since yesterday joined the funeral procession and
had not returned by noon,
Saigon
5. Riot police this morning dispersed a small
group of Buddhist monks and their followers who at-
tempted to organize a demonstration near the US
Embassy. The bonzes then tried to carry banners to
the central market a few blocks from the embassy but
were again met by riot police who sent them scurry-
ing down side streets in the wake of tear gas grenades.
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 Other Developments
6. A group calling themselves the "Citizens
Front of Various Religions" issued a joint resolu-
tion on 24 May demanding the resignation of Prime
Minister Ky and Chief of State Thieu. The group is
apparently a bloc of Catholics, Hoa Hoa, Cao Dai,
Protestants and Buddhists. The resolution was signed
by Father Hoang Quynh and other lesser lights in
the religious field. The resolution asked that the
Armed Forces Council cooperate with representatives
of various religions, political, and labor organiza-
tions (Unnamed) in setting up a transitional civilian
government.
SECRET
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