Thousands of goose-stepping soldiers marched past the tomb of Vietnam's founding president Ho Chi Minh on Sunday for the country's largest military display in years.
The parade, part of a ceremony for the city of Hanoi's millennium celebrations, is a display of national pride that also sends a subtle message to Vietnam's giant neighbour China with the two sides in dispute over territory in the South China Sea, an analyst said.
A cross-section of society including workers, youth, ethnic and religious groups joined the parade, which officials said involved almost 40,000 people. "A lot of blood flowed to have a Hanoi as we have today," President Nguyen Minh Triet told the gathering. "The Vietnamese people love peace but do not submit to brute force and violence."
The display began under overcast skies when 10 Russian-made military helicopters flew past carrying the national flag and the communist hammer-and-sickle banner. Communist Party leaders waved from their perch atop Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum as white-gloved troops and police in an array of green, blue, white and brown uniforms followed in tightly formed blocks, their legs kicking high.
The troops included fatigue-clad special forces members with assault rifles, and ethnic-minority militia women in traditional dress with rifles slung over their shoulders.