Bruised but Not Beaten, Protesters Return to Wat Phnom
Anger over the violent attack on peaceful protesters at Wat Phnom on Sunday night simmered at the site Monday morning, with the same demonstrators returning to confront their alleged attackers and detaining a police official they accused of spying. Shortly before 11 p.m. on Sunday night, police and gangs of mostly young men in plain clothes wielding batons, electric prods and slingshots attacked a group of mostly female anti-eviction activists conducting a hunger strike to protest the government’s decision to convene the inaugural session of the National Assembly despite disputed election results. Brigadier General Kheng Tito, spokesman for the military police, on Monday denied that police had used force on Sunday night. … The U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh called the attack “disturbing.” … But if the attack Sunday was intended to intimidate, it had the opposite effect. … When the female demonstrators arrived at the popular tourist site at about 8:30 a.m. Monday, they immediately accused the pagoda’s security guards of perpetrating the violence. When the guards quickly fled in the face of the women’s anger, the crowd next turned their rage on a man with a video camera they accused of being a government spy. … At the same time several hundred military police officers wearing riot gear gathered inside the grounds of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, located adjacent to the pagoda. The police did not leave the compound, however, except for a few dozen who patrolled the exterior of Wat Phnom. … At 4:30 p.m., a procession of about 50 monks led the demonstrators from Wat Phnom along the riverside toward the Royal Palace. At a barricade manned by riot police on Sisowath Quay, the monks stopped and delivered a speech to the authorities. … After delivering their intended message via megaphone, the monks left the riverside peacefully at about 5 p.m.
Ben Woods and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/bruised-but-not-beaten-protesters-return-to-wat-phnom-43049/
