June 4, 1963 - Sixty-seven persons were hospitalized today in Hue, South Vietnam when Government troops used gas grenades to halt a new outbreak of Buddhist protest demonstrations. Reliable sources said 40 persons had second-degree burns caused by the grenades. Most of those hospitalized were students, some of them girls. A few were said to be in serious condition. A state of martial law exists, and all public demonstrations have been banned in Hue, 400 miles north of Saigon, but skirmishes between soldiers and students continued today. About 35 students, some of whom apparently threw rocks, were arrested. The situation around the country, which is fighting a guerrilla war against Communist insurgents, is reported to be extremely tense. Demonstrations were reported in Quang-tri, 30 miles from Hue, and Nhatrang, a coastal city 200 miles northeast of Saigon. President Ngo Dinh Diem is a Roman Catholic, and his Government is dominated by Catholics, who make up the ruling class in South Vietnam. About 70% of the South Vietnamese are Buddhist.
