Vietnam breaks up anti-China protest

In this photo taken on June 26, 2012, the drilling rig West Aquarius is seen in the sunset as it executes exploration work for ExxonMobil less than 100 nautical miles off the coast of Danang, Vietnam. A rare protest took place Sunday, July 1, 2012, in Hanoi, Vietnam following China’s recent announcement that it will open nine oil and gas lots to international bidders, even though the area overlaps with Vietnam’s current exploration contracts, including ExxonMobil. The spat is the latest territorial dispute between Vietnam and China involving contested areas of the South China Sea believed rich in oil and natural gas reserves. (AP Photo/Na Son Nguyen)

HANOI, Vietnam — More than 15 demonstrators were detained Sunday during a protest march in Vietnam’s capital against China’s territorial assertiveness in Southeast Asian waters.

The protest showed some of the domestic pressures the Vietnamese government faces in its dealing with its large neighbor.

Street marches and open defiance of the government are rare in Vietnam, a tightly controlled one-party state.

Shouting “Down with Chinese aggression” about 150 people rallied around a lake in central Hanoi before police squads moved in to detain ringleaders, pushing them into buses. Some scuffles broke out.

Vietnam and China both claim part or all of the South China Sea, as do some of the other states ringing the potentially oil-rich sea.

This week the Vietnamese government accused a Chinese vessel of ramming into a Vietnamese fishing boat, damaging it. China said it had done nothing wrong.