HANOI - VIETNAMESE Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has warned senior police that 2009 will be a difficult year for the economy and said preventing demonstrations would be one of the force's core roles.

Police also need to be vigilant against 'peaceful evolution' plots by hostile forces', the government's Web site quoted Dung as saying at a national public security meeting held on Monday.

'The police force has to perform its core roles of fighting against and preventing crime, being pro-active in having a thorough grasp of the situation, detecting the seeds of crime early for prompt solutions, preventing demonstrations and terrorism, and providing safeguards for important events during the year,' Mr Dung said.

Public protests are sensitive in Vietnam, where the ruling Communist party brooks no opposition.

Still, disgruntled factory workers sporadically strike at their factories, nationalistic youth have organised protests over long-running international territorial disputes, and residents upset over domestic land disputes have staged demonstrations.

With the global economic environment deteriorating, the government has said gross domestic product growth could slow to 6-6.5 per cent next year and expects about 6.5 per cent growth this year, a significant drop from the robust 8.5 per cent growth the economy logged in 2007.

The International Monetary Fund expects Vietnam's economic growth to slump to 5 per cent next year.

Inflation is easing after soaring to close to 30 per cent earlier in the year, but is still in double digits.

A labour ministry official said 3 million people could lose their jobs next year if the economy slowed to 6.5 percent, several state-run newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, several Catholics in Hanoi were sentenced to suspended jail sentences after being arrested during protests over a land parcel the church wants back from the government, which acquired the property several decades ago. -- REUTERS