From the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
вели ваші
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London S.W.1
23 July 1974
LABT
REF.
(112) & (25
NEXT REF.
153
Many thanks for your letters of 15 and 17 July about the South Vietnamese who were returned from Hong Kong.
I have consulted the Governor about the incident at Kai Tak airport when the group was about to leave. He had informed me that a crowd, originally of about fifty, claiming to be relatives of those being returned, eventually grew to about 150. They included members of Trotskyist student groups. Demonstrations developed and there were minor clashes with the police. Later during the night a number of demonstrators broke away from the main group and succeeded in gaining access through the cargo handling area to the restricted area of the airport. They were accompanied by a group of journalists. After some demonstrators had attempted to enter and damage the two Air Vietnam aircraft which were taking the group back, police arrested a total of 33 persons on the apron for entering a restricted area without the permission of the Director of Civil Aviation. Of those arrested, eleven were members of the press and broadcasting services. Following the clearing of the restricted area by the police, the aircraft departed and the crowd dispersed without further incident.
Twenty-two demonstrators were subsequently tried before a magistrate on a charge of entering a restricted area, contrary to Section 4(2)b of the Airport Regulations. They all pleaded guilty to that charge. When sentence was passed on 2 July each of them was bound over in the sum of HK$ 50 (about £4) for a period of six months. The magistrate ordered no conviction to be recorded. Of the 22, two were also charged with assaulting police officers. They pleaded not guilty on this count, and the hearing of their case was fixed for September.
Ben T Ford Esq MP House of Commons SWI
/A11
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