Chaotic Scene as Gun Seized During Teachers’ Rally
A small gathering to mark World Teachers’ Day at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park briefly descended into chaos Sunday when a crowd of rally-goers wrested a concealed gun from a man working for the Ministry of Information after he forced his way to the front of the crowd. In defiance of an edict handed down by City Hall last week banning the rally, the event opened at about 8:30 a.m. with representatives from the opposition-aligned Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association (CITA) taking to a small wooden stool in the middle of the park to call for teachers’ salaries of 1 million riel per month, about $250, as well as better resourced schools. “We say ‘please’ to the new government—please increase our salaries, at least for primary school teachers—and don’t discriminate against our union members,” CITA’s Phnom Penh representative told the crowd of about 150 people, before denouncing the decision to ban the rally. … At about 9:25 a.m., as the CITA representative for Kompong Speu province was beginning his speech, a tussle broke out at the front of the crowd, with rally-goers seizing a man wearing a press identification card, who had been taking photographs of about 20 monks seated behind rally leaders, and seized a pistol from his grip. CNRP lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua, who was also standing at the front of the small gathering, said she had confronted the man—who had been wearing a baseball cap, dark glasses and earphones—after some of her staff had alerted her that he was carrying a pistol. … After the crowd had dragged the man to the eastern reaches of Freedom Park—with some calling him “traitor,” others yelling “arrest him, kill him!” and one man running up and jabbing him in the head with his fist—military police seized him, dragged him behind their police line and disallowed others through. … Ms. Sochua then handed out photocopies of the gunman’s press card, which identified him as Poeurng Choeurn, a “reporter” for the “Mid.P.P” news agency website, which is the Phnom Penh Municipal Information Department. The MID website on Sunday displayed an “under construction” message, but registration records for the agency’s website show it belongs to MID Director Khuth Samkhann. Mr. Samkhann confirmed by telephone that Mr. Choeurn was an employee of MID, which he explained was the Phnom Penh arm of the Ministry of Information, and said that he was on his way back to the capital from the provinces to deal with the issue of Mr. Choeurn. … Information Minister Khieu Kanharith denied that the Information Ministry armed its staff or sent people to spy on opposition-aligned rallies. …
Mech Dara and Alex Willemyns
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chaotic-scene-as-gun%E2%80%88seized-during-teachers-rally-44997/
