Club-wielding protesters against Prince Norodom Ranariddh clashed with Funcinpec loyalists at the foot of Wat Phnom early Wednesday evening—culminating a day of political protests in the capital.
The street fight began at 4:20 pm after a procession of about 100 anti-Ranariddh protesters, who began marching up Norodom Boulevard at about 3:45 pm, arrived at the south end of Wat Phnom and started hurling rocks at about 100 Funcinpec supporters. Many of the deposed first prime minister’s supporters were on motorbikes.
One 12-year-old boy was badly beaten and taken to Calmette Hospital, and several protesters and journalists were slightly injured.
About 10 municipal police officers permanently assigned to the wat watched from the sidelines as anti-prince demonstrators got the upper hand and drove the pro-prince group back toward Le Royal Hotel, where the prince is staying. The police later said it was not their duty to stop riots. They did, however, ask journalists not to step on the grass.
About 40 riot police officers arrived at 5:15 pm, nearly an hour after the first rocks were thrown.
The riot police dispersed both groups, with the anti-prince group ending up in the Mahatma Ghandi Square, southeast of Wat Phnom.
Two Ministry of Interior officials contacted later Wednesday night declined to comment on the slow response of the riot police.
One 12-year-old boy, who would not give his name, said he was fighting “just for fun.”
Chea Saren, deputy municipal police chief in charge of security, said there were no arrests. He said police seized clubs from protesters and checked cars for illegal weapons. Checkpoints were observed Wednesday night on Monivong Boulevard.
Chea Saren said there were rumors on both sides that grenades were present, but none were found.
said there were no arrests. He said police seized clubs from protesters and checked cars for illegal weapons. Checkpoints were observed Wednesday night on Monivong Boulevard.
Chea Saren said there were rumors that grenades were present, but none were found.
Prince Ranariddh had appealed for calm earlier in the day. He was responding to a morning rally where 200 pro-prince demonstrators chased off 40 protesters carrying signs calling for the prince to compensate them for damage suffered in the July 5-6 factional fighting. The crowd burned the signs and a bullhorn.
Later, at about 10 am, a small force of a dozen lightly armed police began pushing the demonstrators back block by block toward Wat Phnom until they reached the traffic circle.
About 50 demonstrators with makeshift signs rode down Street 51, then Norodom Boulevard, cutting past the US Embassy, then down Street 51 again until they reached Sihanouk Boulevard.
There, their numbers grew to at least 150. They beeped, chanted “Funcinpec” and shouted racial slurs as they drove past the capital’s major landmarks: the National Assembly, Royal Palace, Phsar Thmei. They paused briefly at the Ministry of Defense, where bureaucrats gathered at windows to watch.
Some shouted “yuon,” a common racial slur for Vietnamese, until they were hoarse, and many were seen taunting ethnic Vietnamese along the road.
After an hour, they drove to a Funcinpec compound near the French Embassy, where they were greeted with applause from party members. After a 15-minute break—when they were given bottled water and about 50 signs in Khmer, English and French—the motorbike drivers left again for another tour around the city, this time with the leader of the demonstration carrying a portrait of Prince Ranariddh. No money was seen changing hands, and several interviewed denied being promised any money.
They sped past the Royal Hotel, back around Phsar Thmei and down Norodom Boulevard, stopping at the Vietnamese Embassy. There, they shouted “yuon” for about a minute until continuing up Norodom again.
Twice, two truckloads of soldiers with riot shields, passed demonstrators, but did not stop.
When they passed the Royal Hotel again, two drivers tried to break the road block but were turned away without violence. They returned to the Funcinpec compound at noon, where the two-hour protest ended.
“We need peace. We need development,” the leader of the demonstration, who identified himself as John Sopheap, said later. “We don’t need any [expletive] Vietnamese.”
The pro-prince demonstrators regrouped in front of the Royal Hotel after lunch, where Funcinpec parliamentarian Ahmad Yahya came out to appeal for calm at about 4 pm.
But at that time, the anti-prince demonstrators were slowly making their way up Norodom Boulevard toward the hotel.
Many anti-prince demonstrators admitted they were promised money, but did not know how much. Many rode cyclos and said they came from a squatter camp. Several teen-age boys carried iron bars and picked up large chunks of concrete along the way.
Some said they were genuinely angry with the prince.
Sin Seak, a 35-year-old farmer, said his wife died in the fighting and his house was destroyed. “I want compensation from Prince Ranariddh,” he said. (Reporting by Stew Magnuson, Lor Chandara, Kimsan Chantara, Catherine Philp and Pin Sisovann)
