Freedom Park to Be Moved [Shhh, to a secret location]

The Phnom Penh Municipality is looking into moving Freedom Park to an undisclosed location. KT/Chor Sokunthea

Freedom Park to Be Moved

Khmer Times | 15 June 2016

The Phnom Penh Municipality is considering moving the 1.2-hectare Freedom Park in Daun Penh’s Sras Chork commune to an as yet to be revealed location.
 

“The authority will find a new location that’s easy for the people to use to express themselves. However, if we relocate it to a secluded area where there are no people going to see it, that would not be right,” Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatevong said during a people’s forum at City Hall yesterday.
 

“The new area must be located at a place where there are a lot of people and people coming to witness, and a location where there are a lot of people who want to express themselves.”
 

He said the current location of Freedom Park is too small for the number of citizens who regularly use it to express their ideas. As a result, local residents, businesses and houses nearby are inconvenienced when large gatherings take place at the park.
 

Mr. Socheatevong added that Freedom Park’s new location was still being considered.
 

Freedom Park is a landmark in Phnom Penh and has often been used as the site of anti-government protests.
 

On July 15, 2014, a protest led by politician and activist Mu Sochua turned violent when Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) members led supporters in an effort to regain the park after it was barricaded and shut off. The gathering led to a clash with Daun Penh security guards, who were armed with crude clubs and beat and hospitalized many of the CNRP supporters.
 

Fourteen CNRP supporters were jailed after the confrontation, 12 of whom were handed prison sentences ranging from seven to 20 years, with the most recent convictions coming on Monday.
 

Neither CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann nor Yem Ponhearith could be reached for comment yesterday.
 

CNRP member Ho Vann said it would be the responsibility of City Hall to ensure Freedom Park is relocated legally.
 

“It is the job of the City Hall to change the location. However, it has to make sure that the relocation is in accordance with the Law on Demonstration,” Mr. Vann said.
 

The Law on Demonstration says that Freedom Park must be a suitable site for expression, Mr. Vann added, and that it must be centrally located and heavily trafficked by city residents.  Political analyst Kem Ley said moving Freedom Park demonstrates Cambodia’s movement towards a communist state.
 

“Their motive is to avoid gatherings. It is their strategy. It seems like Cambodia  is going back to a communist country,” Dr. Ley said, adding that the government’s reasons for moving the park are simply obfuscations.