Airport Protesters Charged With Violence, Obstruction, Incitement
Nine Kandal villagers arrested at a protest on Sunday have been charged with intentional violence, obstructing public officials and incitement under aggravating circumstances.
Nine Kandal villagers arrested at a protest on Sunday have been charged with intentional violence, obstructing public officials and incitement under aggravating circumstances.
Villagers said 21 of 30 people arrested at a protest against the new Phnom Penh airport in Kandal were released Tuesday evening, with nine others charged with violence.
Provincial governor Va Thorn said on Monday that authorities had gone to investigate the area, in Chet Borei district’s Chang Krang commune, and found encroachment on about 500 hectares.
Hun Sen’s adviser, Duong Dara, posted online that officials need to stop filing fake reports on land disputes to the prime minister, while also lecturing a VOD reporter about journalism when asked about his Facebook post.
More than 20 families in Koh Kong province, where authorities have been razing villagers’ farmland, are asking officials to formalize their ownership as they fear the land clearings will continue.
Fish are scarce again and wells are running dry, Siem Reap fishers say, as some measurements track the Tonle Sap at another record low this year.
Indigenous communities say speculators have accelerated illegal land sales and Covid-19 restrictions are preventing members from patrolling the protected area.
The government has allocated more than 200 hectares of land in Pursat province to the military’s Region 5, according to a sub-decree issued in August.
Koh Kong villagers said that authorities have been clearing their crops since last week in the province’s Botum Sakor district, with authorities saying the people were encroaching on the Botum Sakor National Park.
Another 4.6 hectares of Boeng Tamok was given to a private citizen who previously received land about six months before.
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