HC Deb 03 May 1968 vol 763 cc250-1W
Sir R. Russell

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why permission was given by the Metropolitan Police for a wreath in memory of the dead of the North Vietnamese army to be laid at the Cenotaph in Whitehall after the ANZAC Day Service on 25th April.

Mr. Callaghan

No application was made to the Metropolitan Police for permission to lay this wreath. The persons who laid the wreath were observed among the crowd near the Cenotaph during the ANZAC Day Service and were told that they would not be allowed to display the banners they were carrying or to lay a wreath during the ceremony. As the ceremony was ending, however, these persons evaded the police, laid their wreath and displayed their banners; in the resulting disturbance, nine persons were arrested and the wreath was removed by the police.