French Protesters Held in Plot on Vietnamese Envoy
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SAN FRANCISCO — Two residents of France were ordered held without bail here Friday on charges of conspiring to assault Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister Dzung Nguyen.
Federal investigators said one person was arrested as she was about to set herself afire Thursday in a San Francisco hotel where Nguyen was addressing Asian business leaders.
Authorities said that as Nguyen was talking, a woman smelling of gasoline entered the conference room holding two cloth-wrapped sticks and a cigarette lighter. They said she unsuccessfully tried to light the sticks as diplomatic security forces subdued her.
The other person, a man later identified as Coung Anh Pham, was arrested after yelling and approaching the security agent who had subdued the woman, identified as Dang Nguyen, authorities said.
They said the pair admitted that they had flown from Paris to San Francisco to disrupt the conference and its Vietnamese delegation to protest communism. They are set to enter a plea in U.S. court next week.
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