The Vietnamese community in Washington, D.C. dedicated the week of March 29-April 5 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1968 Tet Offensive massacre.

Live radio interviews were broadcasted daily with the victims' relatives who relayed eye witness accounts and documentation of the massacre which killed thousands of civilians in Hue, central Vietnam.

At the Eden Center--a Vietnamese commercial center in Falls Church, Virginia--, a banner reading "In Memory of Hue Massacre's Victims" hung throughout the week of commemoration at the Freedom Flag pole. Local churches and pagodas held prayers for the victims with the participation of thousands of worshipers.

On April 5, hundreds rallied at Sheridan Park across from the Hanoi embassy for a mourning of the dead. The 20 minute ceremony was carried out according to Vietnamese tradition and attracted the attention of passersby and motorists.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Toan tearfully spoke of his father's death on the New Year Day of 1968 at the hands of the communist aggressors.

Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thao, a 25 year-old student of Maryland who was born 5 years after the massacre, expressed in an emotional voice the sad episode that she learned about from historical accounts and the accounts of elder Vietnamese. She called on young Vietnamese to draw from the past and actively participate in helping Vietnam free itself from communism's chains and restore respect for human rights.

The demonstrators then marched before the Hanoi embassy demanding the release of political prisoners, the establishment of a free press and respect for human rights in Vietnam.