In stark contrast to the "overwhelming" scene from morning until 11 PM on July 25th, when tens of thousands of people from various rural areas flocked to the Lai Da village cultural center in Dong Hoi commune (Dong Anh district, Hanoi ) to pay their respects to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, the location became unusually quiet from midnight on July 26th.
At the security checkpoint located at the entrance to Lai Da village, ropes were stretched across the area, and the equipment, covered with cloth, lay idle as visiting hours had ended. Some officials and staff on duty in the village area were temporarily given time off to prepare for the next workday on the morning of July 26th, leaving only three security and police forces on night duty.
"We have just finished tidying up the wreaths and facilities at the memorial site to prepare for the delegations arriving this morning," a soldier said.
Security forces maintain order at the site of the Lai Da village cultural center at 2:00 AM on July 26th (Photo: My Ha)
Sharing further information with reporters, a police officer said that although the visiting hours ended at 11:30 PM, some people from provinces near Hanoi still wanted to pay their respects. They had to explain clearly to the people so they would understand and wait until tomorrow to visit at the scheduled time.
"Most of these people came from nearby areas, wishing to pay their respects to the country's outstanding leader, but we had to apologize and ask them to wait until tomorrow," the soldier said.
According to observations by a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper , on Lai Da road (the main road of Lai Da village), which is nearly 2km long, there is a village cultural center and a funeral venue located in the middle, about 800m from the village gate and about 900m from the gate leading to Trai hamlet – the path to the left bank of the Red River dike. All motorized vehicles are prohibited along this entire road.
From the beginning of Lai Da village to the location where General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong paid his respects, there are about 6 main checkpoints. Due to the impact of the thunderstorm in the early afternoon of July 25th, some makeshift tarpaulins or umbrellas were erected at these checkpoints in the evening to protect equipment from the night dew.
Unlike the throngs of mourners stretching to thousands before 11 PM on July 25th, Lai Da Street was very quiet in the early morning of July 26th (Photo: My Ha).
According to Major Do Thanh Trung, a police officer from a neighboring commune who was mobilized to support "checkpoint 1" in Lai Da village, the first checkpoint mainly focused on reminding people about traffic regulations and directing them to park their vehicles in the correct locations.
At the remaining checkpoints, the daytime shift mainly involves guiding the order of visiting groups, directing people to move in the correct lines, and proactively limiting the number of groups entering at each time to prevent too many people from entering a single group.
Outside Lai Da village, the lights were also on tonight. Nearly a dozen people were stationed at various positions at the Dong Hoi Commune People's Committee headquarters.
Mr. Pham Tien Dung, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of the commune, stands guard at the gate of the commune headquarters. According to Mr. Dung, in addition to maintaining security and order in the area around the commune's People's Committee, he also assists and guides people from distant places who come to Dong Hoi to pay their respects to General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
At Dong Hoi Primary School, the electric vehicle drivers, after working continuously for 18 hours on July 25th, were still awake. They spread out mats to rest in the stage area, chatting as they went. Their last trip ended at midnight on July 26th. In a few hours, once the vehicles are fully charged, they will be back on the road, transporting villagers to pay their respects to the General Secretary.
There was a special guest at the elementary school tonight. It was Ms. Tra My, 40 years old, who drove her motorbike alone from Vinh Bao, Hai Phong to Hanoi to attend the funeral of the General Secretary she admired.
Unable to find accommodation, Ms. My went to the school to ask for a place to stay overnight until morning so she could pay her respects to the General Secretary and join people across the country in bidding farewell to him as he was laid to rest.
As of the end of July 25th, according to the organizing committee, more than 36,000 people had visited the Lai Da Village Cultural House in Dong Hoi Commune, Dong Anh District, Hanoi – the hometown of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong – to pay their respects. Many people traveled thousands of kilometers to queue up and pay their respects to the General Secretary.
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/dem-khong-ngu-o-lai-da-20240726033623239.htm
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