Dail Express, Wednesday September 7, 1988

Embassy gun drama is probe by F.O.
 

Picture 1: A man with a gun apparently being restrained by someone inside the embassy
Picture 2: Gunman taking aim at photographer
 

AN URGENT investigation was under way last night after a man armed with a pistol appeared on the steps at the Vietnamese Embassy in London.

Vietnamese refugees claimed he was a diplomat who threatened them during a demonstration outside the building in Kensington.

And they produced pictures apparently showing the same man in the embassy grounds and disappearing through the front door.

A spokesman for a refugee group said: “The embassy ordered their members to use firearms to threaten the demonstrators.”

Diplomatic police were being consulted last nigh about the incident and a report is expected to be handed to Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe this morning.

He is likely to seek urgent talk with the Vietnam’s ambassador, Tran Van Hung.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said of the incident: “This is being investigated.”

The Foreign Office commended: “We are in close touch with the police about these disturbing allegations and await their full report.”

It was Government policy not to issue firearms certificates to embassy security officers.

And a spokesman confirmed that, if a diplomat was found to have broken this law, it would normally lead to his expulsion.

At the embassy, diplomat Than Nhan Khang said a demonstration had taken place on Sunday.

He said: “We don’t have any weapons in the embassy.”