Rights group urges halt to Boeng Kak evictions

Amnesty International has called on the government to halt forced evictions at Phnom Penh’s Boeng Kak lake, and urged the authorities to punish the police officials responsible for the beating of an opposition Sam Rainsy Party member and Boeng Kak residents during a protest at the site on Friday… The statement by the London-based rights group… detailed how eight homes were destroyed by excavators, along with many personal belongings still inside the houses, and how it is feared that 90 other families are at risk of similar forced evictions. The statement also questioned the exclusion of 96 Boeng Kak area families from, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s August 11 sub-decree granting 12.44 hectares of land to about 800 families affected by the private real estate deal at Boeng Kak…