Cambodian Police Fire on Protesters as Clashes Turn Violent
Nicolas Axelrod/Getty Images
International New York Times | 3 Jan. 2014
HONG KONG — Military police officers fired Friday on protesters demanding higher wages for Cambodian garment workers, killing at least three people, officials said, as antigovernment protests against the decades-old rule of Prime Minister Hun Sen entered a volatile new phase [after Hun Sen consulted his Viet master].
The garment workers are demanding a doubling of their monthly wages, and
they have been at the forefront of growing protests against Mr. Hun
Sen’s authoritarian government. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people
rallied to demand that Mr. Hun Sen step down.
But Friday’s violence south of Phnom Penh, the capital, marked a sharp
escalation in the unrest. Protesters resisted police efforts to break up
the demonstrations, and some threw homemade explosives, setting fire to
vehicles, and pelted officers with rocks and other projectiles. As the
street battles raged, the police fired live ammunition and smoke
canisters to try to quell the disturbances.
Another large opposition rally is planned for Sunday, one that aims
again to turn out tens of thousands of people to force an end to Mr. Hun
Sen’s rule. In July, Mr. Hun Sen’s party claimed victory in disputed
elections that the opposition and many independent monitoring
organizations said were deeply flawed.
The week of protests represents a surprisingly robust threat to the rule
of Mr. Hun Sen, whose party tightly controls the police, the military,
the judiciary and much of the news media.
Chuon Narin, deputy chief of the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, told The
Associated Press that the three people who were killed in Friday’s
violence died when police officers in a southern suburb of the capital
fired AK-47 automatic rifles to clear a road that had been blocked by
protesters who were burning tires and throwing objects.
“So far, three are confirmed dead, two injured and two men were arrested
by armed forces,” the deputy police chief said after the morning clash.
Some of the protesters were armed with cleavers and machetes, and at one
point they set fire to a health clinic that demonstrators said refused
to treat the injured.
One of the people who was shot, Ha Srey Oeun, 28, a garment worker, said
she had not been taking part in the protests “because I’m four months
pregnant and I was afraid I would be beaten up or struck.”
“I just went to buy some food for lunch,” said Ms. Srey Oeun “I don’t
know why I got shot. I was very far away from the protest group.”
Local hospital officials said that at least 23 people were injured in the unrest.
Because of the violence, the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party
withdrew on Friday from planned talks with the government that were
aimed at trying to resolve the crisis. In pulling out of the talks, the
group cited the violence against both the garment workers and monks
taking part in the protests.
“We condemn the act of violence against the monks, against the workers
who are demanding the minimum wage of $160,” Yim Sovann, an incoming
C.N.R.P. lawmaker, told the Phnom Penh Post. The garment workers
currently receive a minimum monthly wage of $80.
Friday’s violence was an outgrowth of protests that began Thursday
night, and police officers began moving in after midnight, only to be
repelled by the demonstrators. The violent turn in the protests - and
forceful police response - has raised fears that the situation would
spin out of control in the runup to Sunday’s planned demonstration.
The violence came as the capital has been rattled by labor unrest in
recent days, with labor leaders calling a national strike last week
because of anger over the government’s latest minimum wage proposal. The
garment industry is Cambodia’s largest source of export earnings, and
the labor movement to increase wages in the sector is closely aligned
with the political opposition to Mr. Hun Sen’s government, providing a
deep well of people to turn out for the demonstrations.
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