Vietnamese users black out profile pics to mourn leader

Vietnamese social media users changed their profile pictures to black on Saturday in a show of mourning for the country's late leader Nguyen Phu Trong, whose death was announced the previous day.

Users on Facebook, X and Threads also posted photos and eulogies of the former Communist Party general secretary after Vietnam's state media announced on Friday that the 80-year-old had died at a military hospital in Hanoi "due to old age and serious illness".

Vietnam has one of most heavily restricted media environments in the world and citizens are often hesitant to express their views online.

"A great heart has stopped," Hoang Quoc Ky wrote on his Facebook page after changing his cover photo to a picture of Vietnam's national flag flying at half-mast.

"He was a bright and perfect communist, a sharp politician... who devoted his whole life for socialism and the happiness of the people," Ky added.

"Trong was a very enthusiastic patriot in his own manner," blogger DzungArt Nguyen wrote in a Facebook post.