Parade marks fall of Saigon

Grand march held to honour end of war

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Vietnam mounted its biggest-ever celebration of the fall of Saigon on its 50th anniversary yesterday, including Chinese troops for the first time after Xi Jinping visited to portray Beijing as a more reliable partner than Washington.

A lotus-shaped float carrying a portrait of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh was near the front of the parade in the city renamed after him, AFP journalists saw, and fighter jets and helicopters carry flags flew overhead.

Thousands of people - many wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the Vietnamese flagincluding families with young children and the elderly stayed out overnight in the streets, sharing food and waiting for the display.