A leaked report from experts at an international body overseeing Angkor Archaeological Park reiterated past congratulations for Cambodia’s efforts to dismantle illegal structures in heritage areas amid mass evictions of roughly 10,000 families from the site.
Siem Reap residents are collecting hundreds of thumbprints for the reinstatement of a village chief who was fired for joining a protest against the resettlement of Angkor evictees.
Penh Pren, a village chief in Balaing commune in Prasat Bakorng district, told VOD Thursday that he was removed from his position after attempting to protest overnight at Run Ta Ek relocation site earlier this week.
Siem Reap families set up camp on disputed land this week in protest of their former farms being used to resettle Angkor park evictees, but have left under threat from authorities, the residents said.
Hundreds of residents in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh protested this week over displacement due to an Angkor resettlement plan, the sand-filling of Boeng Tamok lake, and a road expansion project in the capital’s Russei Keo.
Villagers who settled two years ago in Run Ta Ek eco-village — where thousands of new Angkor Archaeological Park evictees have been promised plots of land — say that poor living conditions and lack of job prospects have caused many to abandon their homes.
More than 200 Siem Reap families say they are still owed compensation from the Apsara Authority for land being used to resettle displaced villagers from within the Angkor Archaeological Park.
Prime Minister Hun Sen said he had evidence on his phone to dissolve an opposition party — but had decided against it so far — as he continued his weeklong denouncement of opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
A protest drawing several thousand people from across Angkor Archaeological Park took an abrupt turn Friday, when the land management minister said there were no plans for a mass relocation from the park’s Preah Dak commune – days after residents said authorities had told them the opposite.
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Thursday denied plans to relocate thousands of residents from one area of the Angkor Archaeological Park following protests.
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