Logging ‘crackdown’ falls flat with villagers
Hundreds of villagers in Preav Vihear’s Kulen district cut down a palm tree on Monday and used it to block provincial officials attempting to confiscate tonnes of luxury timber from their village, their representative said yesterday.
Ri Sothun, a spokesman for more than 400 families in Tbeng II commune’s Kdak village, said between 400 and 500 villagers – after hearing the sound of beating drums and other instruments at a local pagoda – rushed to help block the officials’ cars and trucks from leaving the area with seven cubic metres, or 128 pieces, of the timber. …
Villagers considered the officials’ crackdown on their activities “inappropriate” and had impounded their vehicles without violence, he added. …
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/logging-%E2%80%98crackdown%E2%80%99-falls-flat-villagers
