Security Guards Disrupt Memorial Ceremony for Slain Man
There were ugly scenes on Friday at Phnom Penh’s hill-temple Wat Phnom when district security guards scuffled, shouted abuse and punched a group of mostly women and monks who had gathered to hold a memorial ceremony for Mao Sok Chan—the 29-year-old man shot dead by police during last month’s clash near Monivong Bridge. A couple of dozen Daun Penh district security guards, backed up by numerous undercover police, destroyed offerings of jasmine and lotus flowers that the ceremony’s organizers had brought to Wat Phnom. Insults were shouted between participants in the suppressed ceremony and the security guards, which escalated to punches thrown by the guards, slightly injuring several people including a 13-year-old boy, who was struck in the chest, a 67-year-old woman punched in the mouth, and well-known anti-eviction activist Tep Vanny, who sustained bruising after suffering a blow to the forehead. “We cannot allow them to hold the ceremony there [at Wat Phnom] because they did not have permission from City Hall,” Daun Penh district security chief Kim Vutha said. Despite journalists witnessing the rough tactics by security guards against monks and other ceremony participants, Mr. Vutha denied his staff was responsible for any violence. “We did not beat the youths and the people. I do not recognize [this claim], because they jumped in to beat my officers first, and they were just practicing self-defense,” he said. … Later on Friday afternoon, five students who took part in the memorial ceremony delivered a letter to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court demanding that its legal officers conduct a professional investigation into the killing of Mao Sok Chan. …
Khy Sovuthy
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/security-guards-disrupt-memorial-ceremony-for-slain-man-45479/
