 Before dawn on December 19 , there were troop movements in the capital as the junta deposed the civilians . The operation was commanded by Thi — who had travelled into Saigon from I Corps in the far north — and Kỳ . The national police , which was under the control of the army , moved through the streets , arresting five HNC members , other politicians and student leaders they deemed to be an obstacle to their aims . Minh and the other aging generals were arrested and flown to <unk> , a Central Highlands town in a <unk> area , while other officers were simply imprisoned in Saigon . The junta 's forces also arrested around 100 members of the National <unk> Council ( NSC ) of Le <unk> <unk> ; the NSC was a new party active in central Vietnam in the I Corps region and opposed to the expansion of the war . It was aligned with Thi and the Buddhist activist monk <unk> <unk> <unk> , but as Thi was active in the purge , it was believed he had fallen out with <unk> . 
