A clash between foreign visitors and Vietnamese men on Thursday evening in Hoi An has left a bleeding wound on one of the foreigners’ head, Dinh Xuan Nghi, chief police officer of Hoi An City, said on Saturday.

According to preliminary investigations, a local motorbike taxi driver used a ‘plastic object’ to hit Margan, a Frenchman, who was later hospitalized.

There are two versions of the episode as told by Margan’s mother and the driver.

The mother said in a handwritten letter sent to an official that her son was walking along Nguyen Phuc Chu Street, in the ancient town of Hoi An, located in Quang Nam Province, when about 15 young Vietnamese men offered him a motorbike taxi ride, to which he agreed.

Some of the men showed an unexpected attempt to rob him of his money when payment was made for the service.

Margan then joined his friends in a party in a bar on the same street.

The Vietnamese men rushed toward them, beating the Frenchman in the head, leg, and shoulders while the group of foreigners was getting out of the bar.

The Vietnamese group flung a hard object, causing a wound on his head.

He was then taken to hospital by his friends, and received eleven stitches on his head and body parts.

The driver who has been considered directly responsible for the cuts said that when Margan and his fellows stepped out of the bar, they exchanged words with a group of Vietnamese motorbike taxi drivers, according to Nghi, the chief police officer.

The Vietnamese group fought back in retaliation when seeing the Frenchman hitting one of their members.

“Terrified by the sight of blood from Margan, the motorbike taxi drivers took him to hospital,” Nghi said, adding that police are probing the case.

The officer also said local motorbike taxi drivers tend to gather and collectively ply for hire.

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