Dey Krohom Eviction 5 Years On… (John Vink)

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2009: Police aiming tear gas at mans height to inhabitants of Dey Krohom before final eviction.

Dey Krohom Eviction 5 Years On…

At 4:00AM on the morning of January 24th 2009, bulldozers and many dozens of breakers armed with crowbars had a passage opened by riot police firing tear gas through a flimsy barricade set up by the remaining inhabitants of the Dey Krohom community. It was to be one of the more violent evictions in the city of Phnom Penh.

Today the community commemorated the eviction by gathering a couple of hundred former inhabitants and sympathisers behind a 100 meter long banner stretched out in front of the place where once the Dey Krohom community stood.

A report on this eviction can be found in the application ‘Quest for Land’ available on iTunes at THIS LINK. The app gives an extensive overview about land issues in Cambodia, with over 700 photographs and an in-depth text by Robert Carmichael.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2009: Police assaulting barricade set up by the Dey Krohom inhabitants with shell sellers carts before their final eviction.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2009: Hired workers destroying private property under police protection during final eviction of Dey Krohom.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2009: Tools of the workers hired to destroy houses during the final eviction of Dey Krohom.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: Writing the attendance register for the community of Dey Krohom, which saw its final eviction on this same day of 2009, when holding a commemorative ceremony at the place they were evicted from.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: But Bunthen, from the Independent Monks Network, Human Rights Activist, and Chan Vichet, former Dey Krohom community leader, wait for the start of a commemorative ceremony at the place the Dey Krohom was violently evicted from on this same day in 2009.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: The community of Dey Krohom, which saw its final eviction on this same day of 2009, holds a commemorative ceremony at the place they were evicted from.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: But Bunthen, from the Independent Monks Network, addresses the crowd of supporters at a commemorative ceremony at the place the Dey Krohom was violently evicted from on this same day in 2009.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: The community of Dey Krohom, which saw its final eviction on this same day of 2009, holds a commemorative ceremony at the place they were evicted from.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: The community of Dey Krohom, which saw its final eviction on this same day of 2009, holds a commemorative ceremony at the place they were evicted from.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: Chan Vichet, former Dey Krohom community leader, addresses the crowd of some 300 sipporters and human rights observersat a commemorative ceremony at the place the Dey Krohom was violently evicted from on this same day in 2009.

Phnom Penh. 24/01/2014: The Dey Krohom community, which saw its final eviction on this same day of 2009, still stands mostly empty, save from a few beer gardens.