(1 Jul 2012) Vietnamese demonstrators marched through the capital's streets shouting "down with China!" in a rare protest on Sunday, following a week of growing tensions over disputed territory in the South China Sea.
About 200 people waved flags and chanted in the rain as they walked through central Hanoi toward the Chinese Embassy.
One woman held up a banner reading "Paracel Islands, Spratly Islands belong to Vietnam."
Vietnam and China are among six claimants to all or parts of the island groups in the South China Sea.
Police stopped traffic and did not attempt to quash the demonstration, but the area near the Embassy was cordoned off.
Hanoi is protesting a Chinese state oil company's posting of bids for energy development in disputed areas.
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation has opened nine oil and gas lots for international bidders.
On Tuesday, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said the lots lie entirely within Vietnam's 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
Nghi added that China's move was illegal and invalid.
He said Vietnam was demanding that China immediately cease the wrongful bidding.
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