August 7, 2013
Expectedly, at 9:30 am today, August 07, 2013, some representatives of the Network of Vietnamese Bloggers were going to meet officials of the Swedish Embassy in Vietnam to submit the Statement 258.
Security agents had attempted to block their ways with all possible means. Specifically, blogger Nguyen Vu Hiep – Facebooker Florencia Knightingale, who intended to join the blogger group, was put “under house arrest” for refusing to respond to a police summons.
In addition, police were putting pressure on family members of blogger Nguyen Thu Trang, preventing her from going to the Swedish embassy. Meanwhile, five police men were tailgating blogger Le Dung upon leaving his home.
At 9:25 am, the Swedish embassy said about 10 police and plainclothes security agents were standing guard around the embassy. The embassy dispatched four people, including officials and employees, to the main entrance for escorting the Vietnamese bloggers. The deputy ambassador also allowed the taxi that carried the bloggers to drive into the embassy.
Photo: FB Longhaidongvuong – Nguyen Chi Duc
9:45 am: Blogger Nguyen Thu Trang successfully escaped police’s surveillance to join other bloggers. Nguyen Vu Hiep was still blocked by police.
The five bloggers, Nguyen Thu Trang, Nguyen Dinh Ha, Nguyen Van Vien, Le Hong Phong, and Mr. Nghiem Ngoc Trai could safely enter the embassy.
Photo: FB Longhaidongvuong – Nguyen Chi Duc
12:20 pm – News from bloggers inside the Swedish Embassy: The Deputy Ambassador expressed her deep affection toward the Vietnamese bloggers. After the introduction, she invited the representatives to visit her private residence. Below are the pictures taken from her residence.
1:30 pm: The bloggers left the embassy after submitting the Statement 258 and returned home safely. One of those bloggers said the embassy staffs suggested them to leave behind some personal items to avoid unexpected problems and the embassy will return them later.
We’d like to quote a sentence from Facebook Le Lan to end this article, “Looking at the smile on the face of Nguyen Thu Trang and the expressed satisfaction of everyone, I know the submitting of Statement 258 to the Swedish Embassy was successful beyond expectation…”
Source: Dan Lam Bao
