Strikers, police clash
A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital’s Stung Meanchey district. UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result of the clash, which claimed the life of Eng Sokhom, 49, a rice vendor who was inadvertently caught up in the violence. The bloodshed occurred after 600 striking employees at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd., representatives from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) and the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) attempted to march from SL’s Meanchey district location to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s house, where they planned to hold a demonstration. Yesterday’s march marked three months since the beginning of the approximately 5,000-worker strike at SL. While marching toward the premier’s house, demonstrators – many of them C.CAWDU members – were met by about 50 police bearing riot shields and batons, as well as several fire trucks blocking their way at Stung Meanchey bridge. … But at about 9:30am, Post reporters observed CLC staffer Eang Kimhung shouting into a bullhorn for the crowd to continue. “Keep walking … for our collective benefit, for our rights and for justice, we must all struggle together,” Kimhung told the crowd, walking toward the line of police, shouting, “Go, go, go!” as he and the other protesters began scuffling with police. A growing number of protesters hurled volleys of rocks and bricks at police, who fired water cannons into the crowd in response. … In a phone interview after the riot, national military police spokesman Kheng Tito told thePost that the department had yet to confirm police were responsible for Sokhom’s death. … A joint statement from rights group Licadho and the Community Legal Education Center says nine people – including a man critically injured by a bullet wound to the chest – were treated for gunshot wounds at Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and Kossamak Hospital. … In a statement last night, the National Police said 27 police and military police were seriously or slightly injured in the clash and two police cars and two police motorbikes had been torched. …
Sean Teehan, Mom Kunthear and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/strikers-police-clash
