Police have summoned the CNRP’s top party boss in Phnom Penh to appear for questioning today about a clash between a motorbike driver and a group of opposition supporters campaigning earlier this week in the capital.
Morn Phalla, head of the party’s Phnom Penh executive committee, was summoned by Meanchey district’s serious crimes bureau after a group of 10 CNRP supporters was accused of attacking a man on Sunday at a campaign procession, according to deputy district police chief Huor Minh Vang.
“We summoned him to question him and find the people who were involved,” Mr. Minh Vang said on Thursday. “He is the one who led the parade.”
Mr. Phalla asked police in a letter on Thursday to delay the questioning, which coincides with the opposition’s final election campaign rally today.
“I think that it’s politically motivated and has the intent to intimidate” opposition officials, he said.
Dump truck driver Sek Samon, 27, said in a police complaint that he was driving his motorbike across a street while the CNRP was campaigning in Stung Meanchey commune when a group of opposition supporters threw keys at him and then beat him during an argument.
In a video circulating on Facebook, however, Mr. Samon, who is seeking charges of intentional violence with aggravating circumstances, appears to drive against the stream of traffic inside the procession, with witnesses saying Mr. Samon punched a photographer who attempted to take his photograph.
