Police apologised for failing to prevent a man from disrupting the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo after he brandished a Mexican flag near laureates and the Norwegian royal family.

“It’s a breach in security for which we apologise,” said Oslo Police Department spokesperson.

The man waved the flag in front of Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai and India’s Kailash Satyarthi as the Nobel laureates received their prize to rapturous applaus.

The incident was taken especially seriously because child rights activist Malala, the target of an assassination attempt in October 2012 that she miraculously survived, remains a target for Islamist extremists. Police led the man outside Oslo City Hall, where the ceremony was being held, and detained him.

Members of the Norwegian royal family and several members of the government, including Prime Minister Erna Solberg, were within reach of the flag-carrying man.

According to Norwegian Police, the man arrived November 26 in Norway and applied for asylum soon after. He was not armed andwas moved to crash the ceremony because he is “concerned by the political developments in Mexico.”