E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 Page 90 a peaceful UBCV assembly in Nguyen Thieu monastery to elect a new leadership. Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do were both accused of “possessing State secrets” and placed under house arrest in their respective monasteries in Binh Dinh and Ho Chi Minh City. 355. In the same communication, the Special Rapporteur referred to information according to which on 10 and 11 April 2004, on the occasion of Easter celebrations, between 10,000 and 30,000 Christian members of the Degar tribe reportedly gathered in the cities of Buon Ma Tuor, Kontum, Dalat, Phuoc Long and Plei Ku, as well as in other areas, to protest ongoing repression against hill tribes and violations of their human rights, including their right to freedom of religion, by the authorities. The demonstrations were allegedly violently suppressed by the Vietnamese authorities, causing an as-yet undetermined number of casualties. The exact casualty figures were reportedly difficult to assess, as it was reported that the authorities had barred access to the area by independent observers and had imposed a news blackout on hospital personnel. However, some reports mentioned that at least 10 Montagnards had been killed, including one from a gunshot wound in the head and others from beatings, and that hundreds were wounded. 356. It was alleged that security forces, supported by men in civilian clothes armed with metal bars, shovels, clubs with nails stuck in them, machetes and chains confronted Montagnard protesters in the area around Buon Ma Tuor, the capital of Dak Lak province, on the morning of 10 April, seeking to prevent them from reaching the main cities where protests were to be organized. The protesters, who were reportedly not armed, were said to have attempted to defend themselves by throwing stones at the security forces. Further reports indicated that hundreds of Montagnards had fled their villages and had gone into hiding. 357. By letter dated 14 July 2004, the Government of Viet Nam responded that the allegations and information provided to the Special Rapporteur in the letter concerning the situation in some areas in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam in April 2004 were sheer fabrications made up by elements hostile to Viet Nam. 358. According to the Government’s response, the truth was that, on 10 and 11 April 2004, some extremist elements in localities in Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces, instigated and instructed by certain entities outside Viet Nam, especially by the Montagnard Foundation, led by Ksor Kok, a well-known bandit-turned-terrorist now living in the United States, carried out illegal demonstrations and created violent disturbances in the Central Highlands. On 9 April 2004, the so-called “Montagnard Foundation” in the United States issued an announcement that there would be demonstrations in the Central Highlands on 10 April with the participation of about 150,000 people. The organizers of the demonstrations spread rumours that those who participated would be allowed to emigrate to the United States and that, on the date set for the demonstrations, United Nations airplanes would be available at the demonstration site to take the demonstrators immediately to the United States. Elsewhere, they used money to urge the people to participate in the demonstrations and threatened to blacklist and punish those who would not do so.