Police Block Boen Kak Anti-Eviction Protesters
Police in Phnom Penh blocked all attempts by anti-eviction protesters to march out of the city’s Boeng Kak community yesterday, but made no attempt to stop a counter-demonstration against the marchers by a little-known association of tuk-tuk and motorcycle-taxi drivers. About 150 residents of the Boeng Kak and Borei Keila communities had planned to march to the Ministry of Justice to hand-deliver a petition asking for the release of two female activists involved in long-running anti-eviction campaigns. Both women were arrested last week, summarily charged for offenses unrelated to their protests, and placed in pretrial detention. … Mr. [Prep] Borei, the deputy district police chief who said earlier that he had blocked the Boeng Kak demonstrators to ensure public order, said the CCDA’s [Cambodia for Confederation Development Association] counter-demonstration was allowed to proceed because, with their fleet of motorcycles, they posed no threat to public order. …
