Activist Monks, NGO Workers Held After Preah Vihear Protest
Prominent activist monk But Buntenh, head of the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice, was arrested in Preah Vihear province on Thursday, along with another monk and three NGO staffers who had traveled to the province to support a group of ethnic Kuoy villagers protesting the loss of their farmland. Speaking from the Tbeng Meanchey district police station Thursday evening, But Buntenh confirmed that he had been arrested by police and detained at around 3:30 p.m. while returning from a peaceful protest in Brameru commune. Also arrested were fellow monk Bun Theng and Community Legal Education Center (CLEC) staffers Bo Pov, Em Sarom and Chin Sambou. … But Buntenh said that after Thursday’s protest, about 20 military police had surrounded his group and marched them to police headquarters at gunpoint without telling them why. … Tbeng Meanchey district governor Pang Yat denied that the five men had been arrested, claiming instead that they had merely been “invited” to the police station for questioning about why they had attended the protest. … But Buntenh has taken on an increasingly high profile over the past few months, organizing and fronting a number of protests against the ruling CPP. In December, he led a group of activist monks to march outside Chaktomuk Theater, where a nationwide conference of monks was taking place, to protest the theft of the nation’s only relics of the Buddha, which he attributed to government corruption. Last week, his network of monks joined protesters from the Boeng Kak lake community to burn tires in front of City Hall, blockading officials inside and leading to a brief clash with police. …
Julia Wallace and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/activist-monks-ngo-workers-held-after-preah-vihear-protest-49962/
