http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/04/vietnam-re-enacts-fall-of-saigon-to-mark-35th-anniversary-of-wars-end-/1excerpt
Vietnam today marked the 35th anniversary of the Communist victory in the Vietnam War with a grand military parade through the former Saigon and a re-enactment of North Vietnamese tanks crashing through the gates of the presidential palace.
While official speeches touted the liberation of the country, the Associated Press reports, the government basked more in their economic achievements than in the historic military defeat of the United States.
The BBC' says its correspondent found that the celebration "acted as a reminder of the atrocities of the war as well as a sign of how keen the Vietnamese people are to develop their country."
Tens of thousands of invited guests lined the parade route in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, but the area was sealed off from ordinary citizens, apparently due to security concerns, the AP says. Foreign journalist were forbidden from conducting interviews along the parade route.
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