Man arrested for burning national flag

By Truong Ha January 18, 2024 | 12:58 am PT

Pham Cong Hung Nhan points at the area where he burned Vietnam's national flag on Dec. 9, 2023. Photo by the People's Procuracy of Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province

Police in the southern Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province have arrested a man who burned the national flag and filmed it for a social media post.

Pham Cong Hung Nhan, 43, is now under investigation for insulting the national flag as per the Criminal Code, police said Monday.

According to the police, Nhan earns a living by collecting scrap. On Dec. 9 last year, he left a bag of scrap in front of a house on Hung Vuong Street in Ba Ria City to get a coffee. When he returned for the bag, it had gone.

He got angry so he grabbed the national flag hung at that house and left.

Later that day, when making dinner, he got the flag out, burned it, and made a video of the act.

He then posted the video, which lasted for nearly four minutes, on his social media account.