Monks Protest Developer’s Construction on Disputed Grounds
About 400 monks and villagers protested Sunday outside Wat Koh Puthivong pagoda in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district to protest what they say is a real estate company’s encroachment onto the pagoda’s land, including an island that monks consider sacred. During the protest, dozens of young men used sledgehammers to demolish part of a wall in what is slated to become a massive residential development, before marking off the boundaries of the pagoda’s land using spray paint. … “If we did not take action, we would lose this land since the company has continued construction although it knew this land is in dispute with the pagoda,” said chief monk Poeuy Metta. …
