Protest Becomes Secession When Liberties Are Taken With Words

This month’s eviction of villagers in Kratie province that resulted in the death of a 14-year-old girl was one of many such violent incidents over land that have erupted in Cambodia in recent years. But what set the May 16 violence apart was a word: secession. On the morning of the eviction, 14-year-old Heng Chantha was shot dead when about 200 armed soldiers, police and military police descended upon Broma village in Chhlong district . The night before, provincial authorities had begun denouncing the villagers as so-called secessionists, claiming the poor villagers were attempting to annex an area and govern it as a zone autonomous from the government. The accusation that the residents of Broma village were trying to establish their own mini-state was widely expounded by government officials, and two weeks later, police are still searching for five so-called members of their anti-government movement. … Amnesty International researcher for Cambodia Rupert Abbott also said that government claims of a separatist movement were far from reality. “The explanation that villagers were trying to create an independent state seems implausible, and may appear to be an excuse for violently crushing villagers involved in a long-running land dispute with the Casotim rubber company,” he said in an email. …