After authorities on Friday forcibly moved about a dozen people protesting across the street from the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh, and arrested three, demonstrators highlighted how police tactics used during a later rally at the U.S. Embassy were as different as “the sky and earth.”
Heavy rain warnings remain in place after more than a week of flooding, leaving rice farmers increasingly anxious about their harvests — the longer their fields are flooded, the more likely their crops will be lost.
Naval officers were deployed Wednesday afternoon for evacuations in Kampong Speu province amid ongoing nationwide flooding that has hit more than 60,000 houses in just three of the affected provinces, and inundated at least 180,000 hectares of farmland since last week.
Ten people, including three children, have died in floods that have damaged almost 25,000 houses and 84,000 hectares of rice and other crops, according to disaster management authorities, as 1,000 emergency personnel prepare rescue boats and other supplies in anticipation of further storms this week.
A 15-year-old boy who illegally entered the outlawed CNRP’s former headquarters over the weekend was released by authorities on Tuesday morning after questioning.
Justice Ministry officials need more room, so “empty public land” will be used to store court documents by filling in another part of Boeng Tamok, one of Phnom Penh’s “last lakes” that feeds hundreds of families and protects the capital from flooding.
Some 132 lawsuits against 379 people have been used to silence expression and stifle civic engagement in the year to March, with most of the actions brought by the government, the Cambodian Center for Human Rights said.
A woman protesting the jailing of her husband, an ex-opposition official, filed a court complaint on Friday alleging attempted murder by a Phnom Penh security guard who threw her to the ground during a demonstration earlier this month.
A group of Facebook users were questioned by police on Wednesday after streaming live from a pagoda in Takeo province, and preparing to distribute copies of the Paris Peace Agreements while urging viewers to think about which foreigners stood behind various officials.
Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the country to commit to protecting peace as hundreds of land disputants protested in Phnom Penh on Monday, saying that while they remain marginalized, threatened and “in tears,” the people don’t have peace.
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