Media advocacy organizations decried officials’ unexplained decision to ban reporters from news outlets VOD and VOA from Prime Minister Hun Sen’s press conference following the Asean Summit on Sunday.
A small group of hunger strikers was down to only one activist — fasting at home — due to security concerns and exhaustion by the time their protest action ended along with the Asean Summit.
Watching from outside the Sokha Hotel, activists and human rights defenders in Cambodia and Myanmar shrugged: As usual, they said, it was doubtful the yearly summit would lead to any material change for their situations.
A string of high-level meetings has continued back-to-back in Phnom Penh this weekend, with Asean stating it could reconsider Myanmar’s participation in future meetings and the U.N. chief calling for human rights defenders and climate activists in Cambodia to be protected.
Cambodian activists and opposition politicians made a last-ditch effort to catch the attention of U.S. President Joe Biden before he arrived at the Asean Summit, hopeful that the U.S.’s self-image as a protector of democracy could help elevate their plight.
Phnom Penh Municipal Police said the arrest happened around 1:20 p.m. along one of the main roads in Phnom Penh being used to shuttle Asean Summit VIPs to and from the Sokha Hotel in Chroy Changva.
Meetings played out behind closed doors on the first day of the Asean Summit in Phnom Penh on Thursday as hundreds of workers scurried throughout the Sokha Hotel’s labyrinthic interior to tape down innumerable red carpets and arrange flowers.
Fears of traffic chaos in Phnom Penh failed to materialize on Thursday as the city’s roads remained quiet and largely free of roadblocks despite earlier plans to divert private vehicles from arterial roads.
Land protesters have begun camping out at a controversial lake, activists are undertaking a hunger strike, and unionists will continue their casino protests despite threats of legal action for gathering during the Asean Summit.
Myanmar and Ukraine are expected to be key topics as the Asean Summit — and at least 12 side summits — kick off in Phnom Penh Thursday.
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