With Eviction Looming, Cham Fishing Families Live in Fear
Children played along the banks of Phnom Penh’s Chroy Changva peninsula yesterday, while their parents napped under the shade of their bright yellow and blue boat homes. But members of this Cham fishing community overlooking Phnom Penh’s city space said it was a very different scene on Friday night, when about 20 armed police officers came at 10 p.m. to force them to relocate. … Matt Kriya, a representative of more than 100 Cham families living along the peninsul, said 66 families currently remain on the riverbank. Authorities had ordered the families to move their boats since Thursday, citing the need to beautify the riverbank and make way for the construction of a brand new Sokha Hotel, which now stands towering over the ham boat community below. Chao Sidorn, Chroy Changva commune chief, said yetserday the community has until Saturday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, to move. …
