Villagers take hostages
The clearing of land for a Ratanakkiri rubber plantation had been frozen after more than 300 Tumpoun ethnic minority villagers captured a quartet of company security guards and another staffer, tied them up and held them hostage on Tuesday, company officials said yesterday. Jing Zhong Ri Cambodia Co Ltd was granted a 70-year, 9,000-hectare “sustainable use zone” concession in Ratanakkiri’s Lumphat district in May and recently began clearing the area. Tumpoun villagers claim the company has no right to bulldoze their farmland. On Tuesday morning, they launched an offensive against JZR company property, tearing apart a bulldozer and another vehicle before advancing towards the company’s environmental office, Lumphat police chief Suoy Phay told the Post…
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012022354691/National-news/villagers-take-hostages.html
