Union Representative Beaten, Arrested by Police

A union representative was beaten with electric batons and arrested by police in Phnom Penh yesterday after more than 20 garment workers marched to submit a petition to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cabinet. The petitioners, workers at the Tai Yang garment factory who belong to the Cambodian Confederation of Unions (CCU), marched to Mr. Hun Sen’s Cabinet from Freedom Park, where 500 other Tai Yang workers were protesting for additional benefits and severance pay. After a petition outlining their demands had been submitted to the Cabinet, the workers sat down to rest in nearby Wat Botum park, when about 60 Daun Penh district police and municipal intervention police officers swiftly approached and asked them to leave. …