Government Blasted for Eviction of Freedom Park
The U.N. and local human rights groups have condemned the government’s violent eviction of CNRP supporters from Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Saturday, as well as its indefinite ban on public protests in the city. On Saturday, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also summonsed opposition leaders Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha to court on January 14 over their alleged connection to violent confrontations between military police and protesting garment workers in Pur Senchey district on Friday that left five demonstrators dead and more than 20 wounded from police gunfire. CNRP spokesman Yim Sovann said Mr. Rainsy and Mr. Sokha would heed the summonses and remain in the country until their court date. … At about 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, more than 100 men, many wearing motorcycle helmets and armed with metal poles, iron bars, sticks, axes and batons, rushed into Freedom Park and chased a few hundred CNRP supporters and monks out of the park, indiscriminately beating those who tried to flee. Hundreds of riot police and military police had cordoned off the park and looked on as the groups of civilians, wearing red armbands, and municipal security guards, attacked anyone in the park and proceeded to tear down tents, stages and a Buddhist shrine that had been constructed over the past three weeks by CNRP demonstrators calling for Prime Minister Hun Sen to step down. Phnom Penh municipal authorities issued two concurrent statements on Saturday saying that although demonstrations in Freedom Park remained peaceful, the CNRP’s protests were spawning violent activities elsewhere. … In the second statement, the municipality denied having used violence to clear Freedom Park, despite eyewitnesses and photographic evidence of monks being hit by municipal security guards with truncheons. The Interior Ministry also issued a separate statement Saturday explaining that the constitutional freedom to assemble in the city would be temporarily suspended. … Surya Subedi, the U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, expressed concern at the government’s actions to suppress freedom of peaceful assembly. … Local human rights groups Licadho and the Community Legal Education Center issued a joint statement on Saturday rebuking Mr. Hun Sen’s government over its actions to quell demonstrations. “We are dismayed by the continuing use of violence. After [Friday’s] tragic deaths, we hoped that the government would begin to exercise restraint but their actions today show a complete disregard for the rights and indeed the lives of their own citizens,” said Naly Pilorge, president of Licadho, in the statement. The U.S. Embassy urged the government to reverse its decision on banning protests. “We are deeply disappointed by the Phnom Penh Municipality’s decision to ban demonstrations by the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party. This action is a significant step backwards in Cambodia’s democratic development,” said Sean McIntosh, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy. …
Colin Meyn and Phorn Bopha
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/government-blasted-for-eviction-of-freedom-park-50132/
