Protesters try new tactics
Rocks were hurled, fires lit, hostages taken and the message delivered in no uncertain terms last week: Cambodians are increasingly willing to use violence against companies that intimidate them or ignore their demands. Twice – in Svay Rieng and Kampong Cham provinces – garment workers pelted factories with rocks, shattering windows and ultimately bringing companies to the negotiating table. In Ratankkiri, ethnic Tumpoun villagers took matters further, abducting four security guards and another employee working for a rubber company, holding them hostage and parading them for the cameras until Jing Zhong Ri Cambodia Co Ltd agreed to halt – at least temporarily – the bulldozing of their land. The dangerous lesson these people seem to be learning is simple: if the courts and the authorities will not help them, they can get results through force. …
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012022754739/National-news/protesters-try-new-tactics.html
