1.
SV & CU Girl sows flag on machine (3 shots)
0.08

2.
SV & CU Material comes off weaving machine (2 shots)
0.13

3.
TILT UP FROM Water to houses with new flags
0.17

4.
CU Flag painted on side of house
0.21

5.
GV Flags flying from houses
0.24

6.
CU Student carries rolled flag
0.27

7.
SV PAN Van with flags
0.32

8.
Horse and cart carrying flags
0.42

9.
GROUND TO AIR Aircraft strafing Viet Cong positions
0.51

10.
SV & CU S.Vietnamese soldiers and onlookers look at dead Viet Cong (4 shots)
1.02

11.
SV Villager changes new flag for old (3 shots)
1.15

12.
SV Villager hoists new flag
1.22

13.
GV & SV South Vietnamese burn N. Vietnamese and Viet Cong flags at rally (3 shots)
1.39

14.
SV INT Thieu makes speech (4 shots)
1.54

15.
TV & CU Thieu among supporters (3 shots)
2.08



Initials BB/1830 GM/BOB/BB/1812


original on 13417/72 77ft

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Crowds of South Vietnamese have been jostling for national flags in Saigon shops following an official order that every citizen over 15 years of age must carry a flag, and each family must own at least two.

With ceasefire rumours spreading, the national flag--yellow, with three thin red stripes--is already being painted on many Saigon houses. Flags are else appearing in car windows and being displayed on lorries, shops and restaurants.

The demand is so high that many Chinese textile factories in Saigon have stopped making fabrics and are turning out flags instead.

On Friday (27 October) President Thieu banned the display of the Viet Cong flag and warned that anyone ignoring his order would face a military court and a possible death sentence. Among other things, the decree stipulated that adults must produce a South Vietnamese flag when asked for identity card checks.

On the same day that President Thieu issued his decree, he assured a rally of one-thousand of his supporters that any peace agreement must bear his signature.

He told his supporters who had marched through the streets into his presidential palace that any agreement not having his signature would not apply to South Vietnam.