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For weeks, Vietnam has been preparing this city for the anniversary of a defining moment in the nation’s history: On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces stormed the Presidential Palace in Saigon, the governing seat of the Republic of Vietnam, just days after U.S. troops had withdrawn.

Public opinion may well reward a plucky fight for the soul of the nation — and if it doesn’t, then the republic was already lost.

Mr Joyce, who lived in Milton Keynes but was originally from Galway in the Republic of Ireland, was armed with a steak knife with a 12cm blade when he ran at two officers, the watchdog said.

“It wasn’t going to bring down the republic,” Bonner said.

But he has been critical of the legalisation of same-sex marriage around the world, calling a landmark 2015 vote in favour in the Republic of Ireland "a defeat for humanity".