Police Train at Freedom Park as Protesters Target Hun Sen’s House
As hundreds of riot police conducted protest suppression drills in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Monday morning, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s mansion in the center of the city was the focal point of a demonstration by some 2,000 garment factory workers. Municipal police, along with 16 fire trucks equipped with water cannons, were deployed to Freedom Park, the only space in the city set aside for peaceful demonstrations, before 7:30 a.m., when the Cambodian Grassroots Cross Sector Network had planned to begin a small rally in the park calling for government accountability. At about 8 a.m., with hundreds of police officers in body armor and shields swinging batons in mock confrontation scenarios, word of protesters descending on the prime minister’s residence reached municipal police chief Chuon Sovann, who was overseeing the anti-riot exercises at Freedom Park. “I order you to arrest these gang leaders coming from SL Garment Factory,” Mr. Sovann shouted to his nearby deputies, immediately deploying several trucks filled with riot police, which raced down Norodom Boulevard to confront the protesters, who were almost at the gates of Mr. Hun Sen’s city home. Workers from the SL Garment Factory—which produces clothing for U.S.-brand Gap and Sweden’s H&M—have been striking for nearly three months. On September 27, more than 2,000 workers attempted to march to Mr. Hun Sen’s residence, but were stopped by hundreds of military police. When a force of some 200 police officers finally deployed, they used their riot shields to push the garment workers toward the gardens in front of the prime minister’s house. Some protesters resisted, prompting the police to use wooden and plastic batons to beat them, sparking a panicked sprint by the protesters across the gardens and toward the memorial statue of the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk. The police gave chase, clubbing protesters from behind and kicking those who fell. A handful of demonstrators retaliated by lobbing half-empty water bottles and flip-flops at the pursuing police officers. … Although the garment workers refused to move to nearby Wat Botum, Ath Thorn, director of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union (CCAWDU), who organized the demonstration, accepted the governor’s offer, and the two departed the park at about 10 a.m. for a private discussion. “The meeting is not finished,” Mr. Thorn said following a three-hour meeting with the governor. “We will continue to [discuss the factory workers’ demands] at the Labor Ministry tomorrow.” … With the opposition party set to begin a three-day protest at Freedom Park on Wednesday, senior CNRP lawmaker-elect Mu Sochua decried the police’s occupation of the city’s public space for protests, but said it would not deter her party from pushing ahead with another round of mass demonstrations. …
Aun Pheap and Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/police-train-at-freedom-park-as-protesters-target-hun-sens-house-2-45638/
