Deputy PM demands strict action against assaults on women in HN

Suspected victims in the case

Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has requested the Ha Noi People’s Committee direct relevant agencies to promptly verify reports on assaults on women in the vicinity of West Lake.

Some e-newspapers recently reported that between late January and late February, some youngsters wearing face masks and driving motorbikes near West Lake in Ha Noi’s Tay Ho district assaulted many foreign women, as well as Vietnamese girls.

The assaults and attacks on foreigners in this area happened repeatedly with the number of victims reportedly reaching dozens, which has scared many foreign women when coming to the West Lake area and discouraged them from going outside in the evening, the papers said

Deputy PM Binh demanded that if the reports are confirmed, the local authorities must take immediate action to prevent and strictly punish those who commit those acts. He instructed that the outcome of the handling of those cases must be publicized on mass media outlets.

Earlier, on February 28, police in Tay Ho district reported that they are conducting an investigation when several foreign women were attacked by a group of youngsters while they were strolling around the West Lake.

Initially, 25 suspects were found to have close links to the case. The police have summoned an individual suspected of carrying out violent assaults against the foreign women./.-VNA