Group Defies Government Ban to Demand Detainees’ Release
Defying a new ban on public gatherings, more than 50 activists and monks gathered outside the local U.N. human rights office Monday morning to demand the immediate release of 23 men who were arrested earlier this month during violent clashes between police and garment workers. The 23 men were arrested during two days of demonstrations for higher garment sector wages that ended in the fatal shooting of five protesters by military police outside a Phnom Penh factory on January 3. ... Taking advantage of the latest visit from the U.N.’s human rights envoy to Cambodia, Surya Subedi, who arrived Sunday, activists, monks and relatives of the 23 detained men met outside the U.N. office with banners and a petition asking the envoy to help secure the prisoners’ release. Despite the ban on public gatherings, police made no attempt to break up the morning’s protest, perhaps wary of causing a violent scene directly under the U.N.’s nose. On Monday, however, National Military Police spokesman Kheng Tito said the authorities chose to be “lenient” with the demonstrators. ...
Mech Dara and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/group-defies-government-ban-to-demand-detainees-release-50483/
