We can protest, too: PM
A government spokesman later said a lifting of the ban – imposed in
the wake of a violent crackdown on protesting garment workers last month
– was the “will” of the premier, though it would be up to relevant
authorities to decide whether that happens.
“Now there will be two demonstrations. [Our] supporters have the
right to do so and so do the opposition.… If they gather, so do we,” Hun
Sen said at the inauguration of a coal power plant in Preah Sihanouk
province yesterday morning.
The premier added he had “heard [the CNRP] will apply soon [for permission] to hold a demonstration”.
“If you apply for a demonstration, we will follow suit. If [you are]
allowed, both will be [allowed]. If you are not [allowed], both won’t
be. We don’t want to allow only one side to do it like in the past
[before] we banned them,” he said.
“For myself, I am not calling for [demonstrations], but I just give equal rights.” [Did our Dear Leader plagiarized and steal these brilliant quotes from The Onion?!]
“So we have to be prepared, whether it is a brick wall or a barbed-wire [fence],” he said.
Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said it would be up to the
authorities administering the ban whether to lift it in response to the
premier’s words.
“He raised that issue so that the Ministry of Interior and City Hall might change that policy.’
Hun Sen’s comments come less than a week after Cambodia National
Rescue Party leader Sam Rainsy said his party would call off ongoing
negotiations with the CPP if it continued to deploy security forces and
its supporters to the vicinity of CNRP public gatherings – as happened
on a few occasions in the past month.
On January 20, Hun Sen called on his supporters to be prepared “to
fight” back against the opposition’s anti-government protests.
The first meeting of a bipartisan committee that was formed last week
and is tasked with researching electoral reforms is set for tomorrow.
Senior opposition lawmaker Son Chhay said yesterday that he was not
aware of any requests from his party to hold demonstrations, as alleged
by Hun Sen.
“The lifting of the ban on demonstrations would be a good way to
create a better environment for talks between the two parties.… But I
don’t think we are looking for any more demonstrations in the near
future,” he said.
He added that only communist government leaders would directly call for counter-demonstrations against the political opposition.
“No democratic nations have the prime minister organising a demonstration … only the Soviet Union has done that.”
CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha added that, although political
parties have equal rights to demonstrate peacefully, they should do so
at different places and at different times.
“Previously, the CPP is always provoking [us]. When they know where
we are gathering, they go there too. That is negative and intentional
provocation,” he said.
Kem Ley, a political analyst, said that Hun Sen had no choice but to
lift the ban given widespread condemnation from the international
community.
“[But] if he allows the CNRP to organise further demonstrations, it
means more people, maybe 500,000 or a million, will come. That’s why he
wants to use the CPP people power to frustrate or confront the CNRP
instead of using the armed forces.”
Both the Phnom Penh municipality and the Interior Ministry announced
bans on public assembly after at least four people were killed during
protests in early January.
The bans have been sporadically, but at times violently, enforced.
City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche could not be reached for comment
yesterday, while Khieu Sopheak, spokesman at the Interior Ministry, said
he could not comment in detail on the prime minister’s speech.
“We follow the premier’s orders, and we do not follow the opposition,” he said.
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