Party chief demands apology to foreign tourist robbed in HCM City
Apologies must be conveyed to the Egyptian tourist that was robbed in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City last weekend, Dinh La Thang, secretary of the municipal Party Committee, said on March 14.
As he visited the campus of Ton Duc Thang University in District 7 in the morning, Thang said he was shocked to learn of the female vacationer being mugged.
Thang underlined that the tourist must get an apology from city authorities.
“But who will apologize to her, the tourism sector or police?” he wondered.
“I want somebody to come to meet her and say sorry, but I am unable to find who is to be held accountable for this.”
Thang admitted that “it is [our] mechanism” that leads to no one being responsible for such an incident.
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| An Egyptian tourist cries as her companion consoles her in this photo posted on Facebook. |
“Our mechanism aims at giving responsibility to the leader, who in fact has no power or authority, as everything must be agreed upon by the entire group, so in the end nobody is held responsible,” he elaborated.
On March 12, photos showing a foreign woman crying went viral on Facebook, with captions saying she, who traveled with a male tourist, fell victim to a street robbery in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
The tourist was crying because she lost all her money, passport and other important documents, according to the Facebook posts.
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| Dinh La Thang (standing, second left), secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, is seen in this picture. |
Police in Pham Ngu Lao Ward, District 1, confirmed on March 12 that the tourist was mugged by two bag snatchers in the area on March 11.
The police officer denied reports that the Egyptian also lost her papers and valuable belongings.
“That information shared on social networks is not true,” he added.
In mid-February, Party chief Thang set an objective for relevant agencies in Ho Chi Minh City to reduce crimes and offenses in the next three months.