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Cambodian police battle opposition backers
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Riot police in Cambodia’s capital fired smoke bombs and water cannons at rock-throwing opposition supporters yesterday, as protesters kicked off a new wave of demonstrations against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government with a vow to go on until the nation’s post-election deadlock is resolved.
At least one policeman and three protesters were injured in the violence in Phnom Penh. Most of the city was calm, however, with more than 20,000 people gathering peacefully at a downtown park to intensify their push for an independent investigation of results from the July election.
The opposition says the ballot was marred by irregularities that robbed it of winning a majority of seats in parliament, charges the ruling party denies.
Although the government allowed yesterday’s rally to go ahead, authorities had warned protesters to stay within the confines of Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park. Thousands of people marched across various parts of the city anyway, and police — apparently under orders not to intervene — mostly let them go ahead.
At one spot along a river in eastern Phnom Penh, however, security forces clashed with around 200 demonstrators who had gathered on one side of a barricade of barbed wire and roadblocks erected to keep them away from the Royal Palace. Police fired water cannons and then smoke grenades, and demonstrators riposted with rocks, shoes and other objects.
One policeman was hit in the head with a piece of iron. Three protesters were also injured, according to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, which warned that the violence could escalate as the rallies go on.
Shortly after the clash, opposition leader Sam Rainsy visited the scene and condemned the violence. He urged the crowd, which by then had swelled to nearly 1,000 people, to stay calm and return to the main protest site at Freedom Park. The crowd later dispersed.
In a separate incident late last night, police fired more smoke bombs to disperse another group of protesters on a downtown road that heads toward the opposition’s headquarters, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties.
The mass rally came one day after Cambodia’s king brought Hun Sen face to face with Sam Rainsy for the first time in years, urging the two rivals to resolve their conflict over the election results peacefully for the sake of national stability. No agreement was reached, but the two are expected to meet again today.
Political analysts say the weekend protest is mostly aimed at appeasing angry supporters and strengthening the opposition’s hand in negotiations with Hun Sen.
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