Sawt Falasteen - Vietnam marks 80th independence anniversary with huge parade

Some 40,000 troops and civilians are set to parade just after dawn, feting the date when communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh declared a "Democratic Republic of Vietnam" free from French rule in 1945.

Tanks, drones and missile batteries are poised to trail through streets as helicopter and planes streak over the heads of avid spectators, thousands who have camped out to secure front row seats.

University student Vu Thi Trang took up her position at midnight on Sunday -- a full 30 hours before the parade's scheduled start -- her spirits undampened by monsoon season downpours.

"Something inside just pushed me to be here," the 19-year-old told AFP on Monday.

"I am grateful for the sacrifices of the previous generation, so that we have peace and freedom to grow up."

The celebrations are set to out-scale those staged in April to mark the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, when communist North Vietnam sealed the defeat of the US-backed South.

They will also break the record 30,000-strong show of force that the one-party state mustered for emancipation celebrations back in 1985.

"We want to show that our country loves peace and we enjoy what we have now," said 51-year-old Nguyen Thi Huong -- who shut her food stall to attend a Saturday rehearsal of the tightly-choreographed march.

- Economic transformation -

French influence is still visible throughout Vietnam -- in the colonial facades of Hanoi's mansions, in its fusion cuisine and schools where the French language is taught as a marker of prestige.

But the celebrations are expected to focus on Vietnam's independent accomplishments, including its economic transformation into a global manufacturing powerhouse.

Hanoi's top leader To Lam will mark the top of the parade with a speech before attendees from China and Russia, whose troops will march alongside their Vietnamese counterparts.

China's number-three official -- National People's Congress Chairman Zhao Leji -- is slated to attend alongside influential former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel.

The two-hour procession and expected to draw hundreds-of-thousands of spectators.

Ho Chi Minh's 1945 independence proclamation was not recognised by France, which ruled Vietnam -- as well as neighbouring Laos and Cambodia -- as colonial assets prized for their rubber, rice and coffee.

But a disastrous military defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 led to France's full-scale retreat from the region.

"We gained independence through the blood and sweat of previous generations," said 36-year-old flag vendor Dang Khoa on Saturday.

O.Mousa--SF-PST