Vietnamese Americans Stage Protest : Rally: Hundreds from Orange County express outrage at British government’s actions in weekend clash with refugees in Hong Kong slated to be returned to Vietnam.

Hundreds of placard-toting Vietnamese Americans from Orange County marched at the British Consulate General’s office here Monday, demanding humane treatment for Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong following a weekend clash.

On Friday, a 13-hour struggle broke out when 1,500 refugees from the Whitehead Detention Center were transferred to High Island, apparently in preparation for their repatriation, said Angus Mackay, spokesman for the British Consulate General.

In their refusal to be forced back to Vietnam after risking their lives to escape the war-torn country, many refugees threw rocks and homemade spears at about 2,000 police and correctional services personnel, who responded with 3,250 cartridges of tear gas, according to Mackay and Trung Nguyen, a spokesman for the group that organized the protest in Los Angeles.

About 200 people were injured, with more than 150 police and correctional officers hospitalized, Mackay said, adding that the incident was monitored by at least two international relief organizations.

The news reached Little Saigon in Orange County within hours, and a task force was organized to stage the protest, which police said drew about 200 people. Organizers estimated 600 participants.

“We want to let it be known that we, as a community, oppose that kind of treatment,” Nguyen said. “It’s intolerable.”

Nguyen suggested that one solution to the refugee problem would be to make sure that refugees who qualify for political asylum aren’t sent back to Vietnam.

Nguyen helped lobby for a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would reopen the cases of more than 300 Vietnamese who are slated to be repatriated.

“You have officials trying to shut down the refugee camps as soon as possible, which is a good thing,” Nguyen said. “But it’s only a good thing when the screening process is fair, and you’re not sending people back to Vietnam who qualify as political refugees, and we believe that is the situation in many cases.”