Small concession in eviction fight
Authorities have partially backed down on an order forcing 196 residents in Phnom Penh’s Por Sen Chey district to move their homes, but refused to scrap the plan completely when confronted at Chaom Chao commune hall yesterday. Phuong Sopheap, one of about 20 residents that congregated at the commune hall, said officials refused to budge on compensation demands but had agreed to reduce the distance they would be forced to move, earlier in the week. “Initially, the authorities asked us to move 10 metres from the airport’s fence, but we protested and it was agreed that we would move only five metres,” Phuong Sopheap said. Officials were now re-measuring the distance between the fence and the houses based on the new five-metre agreement and had told residents to dismantle their homes by this Thursday, Sopheap said…. A protester, who asked not to be named, said for the past two weeks the community had sought the intervention of NGOs and embassies to push the government for compensation….
