[news] Five die in Vietnam football victory revelry

[Dam Thanh Son <son@ctp.mit.edu>]

   HANOI, Aug 13 (AFP) - Five more people died in traffic accidents as
hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the streets to celebrate a
victory by Vietnam's national football team, police said Friday. 
   Eleven people have now been killed in wild celebrations in Vietnam
since the national team played their first match at the Southeast Asian
Games in Brunei on August 4. 
   Vietnam play Thailand in the final on Saturday and another major
security operation is expected. 
   Despite a massive effort to ensure safety on the streets, four people
in Ho Chi Minh City and one in the coastal city of Danang died as football
fever swept the country following Vietnam's defeat of Indonesia Thursday. 
   Hospitals in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City reported dozens of injuries
admitted resulting from motorbike-related accidents. 
   Late Thursday, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Hanoi
on foot, bicycle and motorcycles waving flags, clanging pots and pans and
chanting victory slogans in celebrations. 
   Thousands more lined sidewalks, and leaned out balconies of French
colonial buildings in the city's old quarter. 
   Trucks of police armed with anti riot gear and water cannons were
stationed at major intersections of the capital, while extra personnel
deployed around Hoan Kiem Lake, a route favoured by high speed motorcycle
racers. 
   Police in Ho Chi Minh city said they despatched an extra 3,000 officers
in anticipation of late night revelry following Vietnam's semi-final
victory in the SEA Games. 
   Scores of people have been arrested and charged with illegal motorbike
racing and more than 1,000 motorbikes have been confiscated in Hanoi and
Ho Chi Minh City. 
   However police in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Danang said their
security efforts had paid off, and no illegal motorbike racing was
reported. 
   The crowds reached their height in Hanoi at around 10:00 p.m.  (1300
GMT) as fans poured into the streets in the city centre. 
   By midnight however, the streets were virtually empty as trucks full of
riot police rumbled through Hanoi warning revellers it was time to finish
their celebrations. 
   The streets were swept clean by trucks full of civil security officers
who then erected roadblocks to keep the heart of the city clear of
motorized traffic. 
   In Ho Chi Minh City however, police allowed revellers to continue into
the morning, with hundreds of thousands of people crammed into the central
business district. 
   "It's kind of nutty, the whole district was swamped," said one witness. 
   Police are already bracing for an even bigger crowd on Saturday evening
if Vietnam continues its march to a final victory by defeating arch rival
Thailand. 
   After Vietnam's victory over Myanmar in the Brunei games last week,
fans lobbed stones at police who tried to maintain order on the streets,
anxious to avoid repeating violence of the past. 
   In December 1995 after the SEA Games in Jakarta, fans clashed with
police for more than one hour, and then went on a rampage, setting fire to
bus shelters and breaking windows.