The Phnom Penh Post - ENGLISH: “Strikers, police clash” plus 9 more

A woman was killed and at least six others shot yesterday morning when police fired live ammunition into a crowd of hundreds of rioting garment workers in the capital's Stung Meanchey district.

UN reports said police also arrested 37 people, including seven monks, as a result of the clash, which claimed the life of Eng Sokhom, 49, a rice vendor who was inadvertently caught up in the violence.

The bloodshed occurred after 600 striking employees at SL Garment Processing (Cambodia) Ltd., representatives from the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers' Democratic Union (C.CAWDU) and the Cambodian Labour Confederation (CLC) attempted to march from SL's Meanchey district location to Prime Minister Hun Sen's house, where they planned to hold a demonstration.

Yesterday's march marked three months since the beginning of the approximately 5,000-worker strike at SL.

While marching toward the premier's house, demonstrators – many of them C.CAWDU members – were met by about 50 police bearing riot shields and batons, as well as several fire trucks blocking their way at Stung Meanchey bridge.

Initially peaceful, marchers stood toe to toe with police, carrying homemade signs, including a framed photograph of the prime minister and his wife.

But at about 9:30am, Post reporters observed CLC staffer Eang Kimhung shouting into a bullhorn for the crowd to continue. "Keep walking … for our collective benefit, for our rights and for justice, we must all struggle together," Kimhung told the crowd, walking toward the line of police, shouting, "Go, go, go!" as he and the other protesters began scuffling with police.

A growing number of protesters hurled volleys of rocks and bricks at police, who fired water cannons into the crowd in response.

Police retreated to the other side of the bridge, leaving at least three officers inside the Stung Meanchey pagoda complex. One was seen running from his police truck as irate protesters pelted it with rocks, breaking windows and knocking out its windshield. The other two took refuge inside a pagoda building.

As demonstrators rolled the abandoned police vehicle into the street, turning it over and setting it ablaze, a crowd gathered in front of the building in which police had sought asylum.

Monks, who initially kept demonstrators at bay, gave way as the rock-throwing mob broke windows, eventually bursting through the building's door. United Nations peacekeeping officials entered the small building, where the two officers were hiding inside a small, locked room after demonstrators had stripped them of their shields, batons and body armour.

[img]

At about 10:30, police, who now numbered more than 100, advanced across the bridge, shooting tear-gas canisters, rubber bullets and live ammunition into the crowd of hundreds on Veng Sreng Road and into the pagoda complex.

Standing at her food stand across the street from the pagoda, Vong Voleak, 23, wept after the onslaught. Her mother, Eng Sokhom, 49, died of a gunshot wound to the chest, she said.

"My mother and I were hiding next to our food booth to avoid the clash, but suddenly my mother was shot below her breast and fell down," Voleak told reporters. "My father and others rushed her to [Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital] for help, but it was too late."

In a phone interview after the riot, national military police spokesman Kheng Tito told the Post that the department had yet to confirm police were responsible for Sokhom's death.

"We have to investigate and examine the body to find out if she died from bullets fired from police," Tito said. "We cannot rush to the conclusion that police caused her death."

Seng Sith, a 23-year-old striking SL worker who was shot in the arm during the melee, said the police's severe response confounded him.

"They used the tear gas and gunshots on us after some of us threw small stones at them," Sith said at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.

[img]

While the total number of those injured by gunfire remains unconfirmed, a Post reporter at the hospital was shown an X-ray showing a bullet lodged inside one of the wounded brought from the scene of the riot. Hospital staff said they were caring for at least three shooting victims at their facility.

A joint statement from rights group Licadho and the Community Legal Education Center says nine people – including a man critically injured by a bullet wound to the chest – were treated for gunshot wounds at Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital and Kossamak Hospital.

Toak Tin, a monk at the Stung Meanchey pagoda, told the Post he witnessed two men being shot by police with handguns inside the pagoda complex; one above the hip, and the other in the upper-thigh area. Both men were also rushed to a hospital, he added.

As demonstrators dissipated, at least six men inside the complex were dragged out and arrested. Police severely beat at least two of those men.

Tito confirmed that more than 10 people were arrested. However, according to the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 37 were arrested, including seven monks.

In a statement last night, the National Police said 27 police and military police were seriously or slightly injured in the clash and two police cars and two police motorbikes had been torched.

"We feel sorry for what has happened and will take measures to investigate this case," the statement says, adding that workers should obey the Labour Law and resolve their issues in peaceful ways.

The protesters dispersed by noon and traffic resumed as if nothing had happened. But rights groups and NGOs immediately decried the use of live ammunition against demonstrators armed only with rocks and bricks.

[img]

"There is clear video evidence of Police Chief General Chuon Sovann ordering riot police to use violence against demonstrators, he must be held to account, stripped of his position and take legal responsibility," says a statement from the Cambodian Human Rights Action Committee. "Moreover, CHRAC demands a full and proper investigation into the death of Mrs Eng Sokhom."

David Welsh, country director of labour-rights group Solidarity Centre/ACILS, said the riot was more violent than any he's seen in the three years he's worked in Cambodia.

"Regardless of any details, ammunition being fired at workers and/or the general population in Cambodia is totally unacceptable," Welsh said.

The indiscriminate shooting into the crowd mirrored police action on the night of September 15, when Mao Sok Chan, 29, was shot dead during a clash between police and civilians at a blockade on the Kbal Thnal overpass.

In that case, police also opened fire on a large crowd of people with live ammunition. No official investigation into that shooting has begun.

Yesterday's riot also occurred at the same location as an election day riot in July, during which residents who were angered when they were told they could not vote detained the polling station director inside the Stung Meanchey pagoda.

After yesterday's bloody riot, Kong Athit, vice-president of C.CAWDU – the union that represents a large majority of SL workers – said that, although demonstrators sparked the turbulence, police hold 100 per cent of the blame for the violence.

"They sent four or five fire trucks, so their intent was clear: They wanted to crack down on the strike," Athit said.

Further, he said, C.CAWDU's attempts to resolve the SL strike have been stymied by the government.

"We've been listening to the government for the past three months," said Athit, who said the C.CAWDU found out on Monday that the Phnom Penh municipality denied a permit it filed to hold the march. "[The government] just pushed us to the wall."

An adviser to Russian tycoon Sergei Polonsky said yesterday that the businessman's legal team will fight his extradition to his homeland, where he is wanted on embezzlement charges.

The adviser, who asked not to be named, said the 40-year-old's business plans for Cambodia – worth hundreds of millions – would be jeopardised if he was sent back to Moscow following his arrest on Monday.

"Polonsky wants to live in Cambodia forever. He has even built his own stupa on Koh Dek Koul – he will die in Cambodia" the man said, adding that the eccentric tycoon owned as many as eight islands in the Kingdom's waters. "He wants to develop Cambodia … If he's sent back, his projects will have problems."

After Polonsky's first arrest, in late December, he wrote an open letter to King Norodom Sihamoni outlining his plans to "build a seven-star hotel and a green zone in the archipelago not far from Sihanoukville".

Government officials contacted yesterday could provide no details of islands other than Koh Dek Koul that Polonsky owned.

Authorities said yesterday they intended to send Polonsky back to Russia to face charges over the $176 million development project, despite an impending court case against him here, stemming from alleged violence at sea in late December.

A statement on the National Police's website yesterday said that "at the request of the government in Moscow, the suspect … will be sent to Moscow soon".

Other officials would not confirm when this would happen, but Khieu Sopheak, a Ministry of Interior spokesman, said he hoped the extradition could occur "quickly".

Y Sok Khy, director of the anti-terrorism police at the Ministry of Interior, said yesterday that arresting Polonsky on Koh Rong – which is close to his own private island – had not been a straightforward task.

"Polonsky knew in advance that we were coming, so he tried to hide and run from us," he said. "It's an island, though, so we were pretty sure we were going to catch him."

Cambodian and Thai military officials met yesterday morning to discuss the implementation of the International Court of Justice's ruling on Preah Vihear, with both sides pledging to keep the peace and the Thais agreeing to withdraw to the new line of demarcation.

Monday's judgment declared that Cambodia had sovereignty over the promontory of Preah Vihear and that Thailand was obliged to withdraw all its forces stationed in the area – which the court clarified was the "vicinity" of the temple.

In a meeting held yesterday, Cambodian General Srey Doek and his Thai counterpart, General Tarakorn Thammavinton, said the ICJ's decision would be implemented in due course, but agreed that further consultation would be necessary to determine the exact line of demarcation and to establish a timeline for the withdrawal.

"The Thai side will withdraw the troops as the ICJ ruled by following government policy, and we have to take time to follow the border committee," Tarakorn said, referring to the Cambodia-Thai Border Committee. "The Thai side guarantees to Cambodia that it will not allow a clash to happen, and that there weren't any Thai people who protested near the border."

Neither side yesterday could say how far the Thais would have to pull back from current lines.

"Both sides respect the ICJ ruling, but finding a resolution requires the two governments and the border committee to do it," Doek, the Cambodian general in charge of Preah Vihear, said. "I believe that the Thai prime minister has already talked with Prime Minister Hun Sen to find a resolution."

According to Monday's verdict, the promontory extends in the northwest to the foot of a neighbouring hill known as Phnom Trap, which sits about 2.5 kilometres away from the temple according to the colonial-era Annex I map that forms the basis of Cambodia's border claim.

Although the ruling clarified that the northern limit of the promontory was the border line of this map, which sits some 500 metres north of the temple, it made clear the dispute only concerned the promontory and declined to rule on the boundary line between Cambodia and Thailand.

It is unknown how many Thai forces remain north of the temple or in the valley leading to Phnom Trap.

The ICJ ruling suggests, however, that an area near the temple that was previously considered a sort of no man's land – where five soldiers from each side kept watch together – would now belong to Cambodia.

Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan said yesterday that he was not aware of any set timeline for negotiations.

"We can use [a number] of existing mechanisms related to the border. We will put our differences aside and meet so not to jeopardise the peace of the area," he said.

Siphan added that it was too early to put a number on how much territory the ICJ had clarified was Cambodia's, but stressed the dispute was over the interpretation of the border line, and not over territory.

"The Thais have presented their own map which creates this [famous] 4.6-kilometre area … This dispute is not about that 4.6-kilometre area but about interpreting where the border line is. That's why the ICJ never said anything about the 4.6 kilometres."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KEVIN PONNIAH

A garment worker march to the Prime Minister's home descended into violence today resulting in the death of an innocent bystander and the injury of at least nine others, including more people who had been shot.

Parliament unanimously approved a $3.4 billion national budget yesterday despite the continued absence of opposition lawmakers boycotting the Assembly over widespread irregularities in July's national election.

Officials said the budget, which allocated about $400 million more than last year's, was intended to sustain economic growth of seven per cent and reduce poverty by one per cent.

The sizeable increase on last year's budget – about 13 per cent – will see significant boosts in spending on education, defence and internal security, including "anti-terrorism" training.

Even had the Cambodia National Rescue Party's 55 elected lawmakers attended yesterday's session, with 68 elected MPs, the Cambodian People's Party has the simple parliamentary majority needed to pass the budget.

Sixty-six ruling-party lawmakers voted in favour of passing the spending bill yesterday.

The opposition has faulted past budgets for allocating too much to funding security at the expense of health and education, and for borrowing too much from foreign governments.

In this year's budget, the ministries of defence and the interior will get $489 million in total – an increase of about 17 per cent compared with last year.

The Ministry of Social Affairs will get $141 million, up 37 per cent, while $335 million will go to the Ministry of Education, up 20 per cent on last year.

But it was not immediately clear where the extra money would come from, nor where about 44 per cent of the budget catagorised as "unallocated expenditure" would end up.

Aun Porn Moniroth, the recently appointed Minister of Economics and Finance, said that an expanding agricultural sector would grow about 4.2 per cent, helping to pay for some of the planned spending.

"Government spending in 2014 is to ensure annual economic growth of around seven per cent and to reduce the poverty rate by at least one per cent per year," he said.

Increased exports to the European Union – particularly garments – under its Everything But Arms treaty would also help make up for the shortfall, he added.

The budget suggests $2 billion will come from taxes on income, property, petrol, casinos and other businesses. An additional $350 million is expected to be raised from levies on the sale of state property and the granting of licences and concessions for forestry, fishing and mining.

Cheam Yeap, a senior Cambodian People's Party lawmaker, said that although additional money would be raised through taxation, it would not be enough to pay for all of the spending outlined in the budget.

Yeap declined to go into detail about whether the government was considering targeting companies operating economic land concessions to raise tax, as the opposition has suggested it should. Poor rural communities, he claimed, would be exempt from property tax increases.

"The ruling CPP's policy is exemption from all tax of villagers' agricultural land, therefore [tax increases] will not affect individual villagers," he said.

Once again, foreign loans will carry a significant part of the burden, with the government borrowing some $3.61 billion over the next three years, according to the budget, including $920 million in loans this year alone from China, South Korea and Japan.

Political analyst Kem Ley said the government had not gone far enough to alleviate concerns that the budget would serve the interests of the ruling party.

"I think they could have done more. If the government wants to reform they should open the space to set up a mechanism at the Ministry of Economics and Finance…to receive feedback," he said.

"It's not a good budget, just adopted for political purposes rather than strengthening the country."

Analysis

The national budget for 2014, along with two other laws, sailed through a parliament consisting solely of ruling party lawmakers yesterday.

But while the Cambodia National Rescue Party's ongoing boycott of the National Assembly meant it was unable to debate the merits of the spending bill in the halls of parliament, the party has also consistently declined to offer detailed public criticism or analysis of legislation from the sidelines.

The reason given has been consistent: the assembly was formed "illegally", and any laws it produces are also illegal.

Some analysts yesterday questioned whether this logic, and the boycott itself, continue to make sense as opposition strategy.

Political and social researcher Kem Ley said the opposition should set up technical working groups to review draft laws proposed by the government and share their criticisms with the public while outside the assembly.

"There was no strong technical team to review the [budget] law and provide feedback. When they provided their feedback it was just based on opinion without concrete criticisms," he said.

Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said that the CNRP's strategy would not build confidence in its ability to govern.

"They need to look at [the budget], they need to analyse it. I think the fact that they didn't do that shows a lack of depth in terms of their ability to look at national policies," he said.

Virak added that if the ruling party began moving forth with real reform – the prime minister recently called for a draft freedom of information law to be expedited – while the opposition simply boycotts, it could erode the CNRP's legitimacy.

"People will start looking at the [government] as more legitimate and that is the danger. Because at the end of the day, the CNRP could be sitting outside for a lot of time."

Peter Tan Keo, an independent analyst, said the opposition's lack of engagement with policy was "childish".

"The approach is not only childish, but the opposition's inability to get beyond elections or electoral reforms – and perhaps Mr Rainsy's obsession with toppling Mr Hun Sen – is the party's Achilles' heel.

"That obsession blurs its vision to plan and strategise for the future," he said.

"Contrary to what the CNRP thinks, the call for protests and ultimatums – though credible – aren't the party's biggest political weapon. It's negotiating terms and leading reforms through the National Assembly."

Ou Chanrith, an opposition lawmaker, confirmed yesterday that his party's position on offering detailed criticisms of proposed government legislation remained the same.

"Why should we? Because we do not recognise the legitimacy of the National Assembly at this time," he said.

A man travelling from the Philippines to Thailand was arrested at Siem Reap International airport on Monday night for allegedly smuggling 2.3 kilograms of cocaine.

Oum Amara, provincial deputy police chief, identified the suspect as Christian Echual Ramirez, 33, from the Philippines, who was allegedly smuggling the drugs in two shampoo bottles.

Khieu Samon, head of the Ministry of Interior's anti-drug department, told the Post yesterday that the arrest had been made with cooperation from international police.

"There have been many cases of illegal drug trafficking through airports [in Cambodia] this year, but we do not have an official tally yet," Samon said.

Ramirez is expected to be charged in provincial court today.

Rates of methamphetamine and cocaine seizures in 2012 hit the highest totals ever reported by the country, according to a report released this month by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The report also highlights that transnational organised drug trafficking groups continue to target the Kingdom as a source and destination for amphetamine-type stimulants and other illegal drugs.

In October last year, a joint force of immigration, customs, military police and anti-drug officers arrested two Thai women allegedly with more than 11 kilograms of cocaine at the Siem Reap airport.

Another alleged trafficker with suspected links to a Thai drug ring was arrested at the same airport a month earlier with more than five kilograms of methamphetamine.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AMELIA WOODSIDE

More than a year after their arrests, a two-star major general and two others faced Phnom Penh Municipal Court on drug-dealing charges yesterday.

Ministry of Interior authorities arrested Major Chan Rithydy, 46, in Meanchey district's Prek Pra commune on August 23, 2012, seizing more than a kilogram of crystalline Ecstasy and about 85,000 tablets of methamphetamine-type stimulants.

Rithydy's two alleged Laotian accomplices – Deap Sunlay, 52, and Learm Chhunry, 27 – were arrested the next day with nearly one kilogram of Ecstasy, based on information garnered from Rithydy's questioning.

Nach Try, Rithydy's attorney, said his client had admitted guilt and cooperated with authorities, calling for a light sentence, a request echoed by his client yesterday.

"I served the army since 1986," Rithydy said, pointing to his years in public service.

Dany confirmed the court will deliver its sentences on November 26.

In the past two years, the French embassy in Phnom Penh has been drawn into at least two high-profile cases in which their nationals have died in suspicious circumstances in Cambodia.

In the case of Laurent Vallier, 42, whose body was found with his four children in a vehicle submerged in a pond behind his home in Kampong Speu in January 2012, it took more than a year – and a second investigation – to determine that his death wasn't a suicide.

This was after his skull was found in a suitcase in the back of the car and his body in the front passenger's seat. The case remains open.

In an attempt to improve forensic investigations in the Kingdom, the French embassy announced yesterday it was helping provide experts to train officers from the Royal Gendarmerie, also known as the Military Police.

"Crime scenes and practical exercises using modern equipment from France have been organised to allow participants to learn how to deal with these situations and collect the necessary evidence," a statement from the French embassy says.

The training, which came at the request of the Cambodian government, and "following a series of criminal cases where both Cambodians and foreign nationals were involved", consisted of 63 officers being trained over five days.

Topics of focus included collecting fingerprints and performing tests in case of rape.

France also donated equipment to help officers across the country carry out investigations.

Military police spokesman Kheng Tito welcomed the training and equipment, but said it was desperately needed all across the country.

"No, we don't have enough," he said. "We need more. In 2012, the French gave us [equipment] and [it is] finished."

A shortage in funding and training for police and military police in Cambodia is well-documented.

Earlier this year, the police response to the death of a woman on a ride at the Dreamland amusement park and the death of two workers at a garment factory in Kampong Speu raised questions about the police's ability to even cordon off an accident scene in order to adequately investigate.

Lawmakers from the ruling Cambodian People's Party yesterday unanimously voted to pass legislation which will create three new government ministries.

Sixty-six CPP representatives voted to create a Ministry of Public Function, which will oversee the affairs of civil servants.

The MPs also followed through on a floated plan to split the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, creating two separate entities: the Ministry of Energy and Mines and the Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts.

Cheam Yeap, a senior CPP lawmaker, said splitting up the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy would enable officials to get more work done.

"Our country is developing all sectors, therefore it is necessary to control the human resources, particularly the civil servants," Yeap said. "I supported the new ministries."

The opposition has in the past criticised the proposed move, saying it would do little to improve efficiency and would only create more bureaucracy.

Opposition lawmakers could not be reached for comment about the new ministries. Chheang Vun, one of the CPP lawmakers who voted on the bills, said high local production costs of handicrafts had led to imports from China, Vietnam and Thailand flooding tourist hot-spots such as Angkor Wat.

The new handicrafts ministry would work to promote local crafts, he added.

"In my estimation, only about 20 per cent of local souvenir production for tourists [is done in Cambodia] due to the high production costs. We have to focus on industry and handicrafts," Vun said. "We have to encourage small industry."

The newly appointed Minister of Public Function, Pich Bunthin, addressed the National Assembly following the approval of the creation of his ministry.

"From now on, the government has a new tool: an additional ministry, to lead and control our officials to be good and accordance with the government's policy," he said. "I promise I will accept all recommendations to work with the demands of our civil servants nationwide."

Civil servants are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with low salaries, according to analysts, leading many to vote for the opposition in July's election.