The World - News from July 26, 1989

A “considerable” number of Vietnamese refugees were hurt in weekend clashes with police at a crowded Hong Kong detention center, said Robert Van Leeuwen, U.N. high commissioner for refugees in the British colony. Officials said it is unclear whether the death of a 59-year-old man was connected to the disturbances, which broke out at the Sek Kong military base where about 7,200 boat people live in army tents pitched on a runway at a military airfield. Vietnamese refugees later carried crude cardboard posters around the camp saying in English: “Royal Hong Kong Police Kill Vietnamese Refugee.”