In Contrasting Styles, Police, Opposition Prepare for Protests
With planned protests against last month’s contested national election results fast approaching, the opposition CNRP and police each held separate training events in Phnom Penh on Sunday, aimed at staving off the violence many fear may erupt. The CNRP says it will start mass protests beginning Saturday unless the government agrees to an independent investigation of the July 28 vote, which preliminary results give to the ruling CPP but remain mired in reports of widespread irregularities. Sunday’s two training events could not have been more different, however. On Koh Pich, some 2,000 municipal police officers spent most of the morning running through carefully coordinated drills in strict formations. Police packing tear gas and gas masks and fully armored riot police wielding batons and shields all took part. They practiced maneuvers, deployed barricades and barbed wire and used water cannons mounted on several fire trucks. Presiding over it all was municipal police chief Chuon Sovann, who afterward urged those thinking of joining Saturday’s protests to stay at home. … More than 1,000 military police ran through crowd control drills during a training event at Phnom Penh’s Olympic Stadium exactly two weeks ago. Before that, at least half a dozen gun-mounted armored personnel carriers and hundreds of soldiers were also redeployed to Phnom Penh in preparation for the protests but have so far remained out of sight. The CNRP has been busy preparing for the protests as well. Their role-playing exercises at Freedom Park on Sunday afternoon, however, were a decidedly less orderly affair. As about 500 opposition supporters took turns pretending to be protesters, unruly demonstrators and police, few could refrain from giggling and smiling through what looked more like a play fight than genuine training. At various times, they practiced isolating unruly participants, linking arms to resist pushy protesters and being pelted with empty water bottles. Sok Noeun, who laughed his way through his role as a police officer, said he enjoyed the exercise but conceded that the real protests were sure to be a less jovial affair. … But CNRP officials and most supporters are not worried about an outright attack from police, so much as the prospect of the CPP planting operatives among the protesters to stir up trouble and justify a heavy-handed police response. To counter that, the CNRP plans to divide the protesters into groups of 10 to 20 people who will all know each other. …
Phorn Bopha and Zsombor Peter
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/elections/in-contrasting-styles-police-opposition-prepare-for-protests-41545/
