Uproar over restaurant name

Protesters rally outside 'offensive' New Farm Uncle Ho restaurant

Protesters said they chose to rally after peaceful attempts to contact owners failed.

(ABC News: Anna Macdonald)

About 100 people have protested outside Brisbane's Uncle Ho restaurant, which was closed on Sunday due to "death threats" for naming the eatery after Vietnamese communist leader Ho Chi Minh.

The city's Vietnamese community said the name and advertising was ignorant and insulting and they would continue to organise protests until the name was changed.

They held a peaceful protest outside the New Farm establishment on Sunday morning, singing national songs and holding placards such as "Ho Chi Minh is nobody's uncle".

The restaurant's director Anna Demirbek was unapologetic in an Instagram post on Sunday.

She said they were fully conscious the brand would be sensitive.

"We have no position on the political or historical landscape of Vietnam," she said.

"We are not communist sympathisers.

Protesters said the restaurant's name was ignorant. (ABC News: Anna MacDonald)

"Over the past 24 hours management have received death threats and threats of burning down the building our business is housed in."

Phuong Nguyen said protesters' attempts to contact the owners of the New Farm restaurant had failed.

She said because their peaceful approach did not work, they decided to rally.

"For Vietnamese, especially from the south, who risked their lives and ran away from their country by boat in the 70s and 80s, we hate that name," she said.

"We settled in Australia and live in peace and enjoy the freedom, democracy and work hard in a country which opened its arms to us.

"We are incensed.

"The posters in there is some sort of promotion for the Vietnamese army and remind us of the invasion of Saigon.

It is not only the name which has angered the local Vietnamese community, but the advertising material.
(Instagram: Unclehonewfarm)

"It was a terrifying period for all of us, we were the losers and the winner did not treat us humanly.

"Why do you promote an eatery with all the war, guns, tanks images?"

Millions fled Vietnam as a result of Ho Chi Minh and the communist regime.

Since its opening earlier this year, the restaurant's Instagram feed has drawn criticism for making light of the history.

One post a month ago, featuring a red tank and military saying "gather your squadron and mobilise the troops" offended a number of people.

"This kind of imagery is insensitive at best and horribly offensive to so many Vietnamese Australians, many whose families fled torture and death at the hands of 'Uncle Ho', it's also a slap in the face to many Vietnam vets," patches_o wrote.

The ABC has attempted to contact the restaurant's owners.

Millions fled Vietnam as a result of Ho Chi Minh and the communist regime.

(Instagram: Unclehonewfarm)

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-10/vietnamese-restaurant-uncle-ho-offensive-protest/7314068