Families Protest as Kampot Land Measuring Begins

About 200 people representing 816 families who have been promised a 1,337-hectare land concession in Kampot province protested in Phnom Penh on Monday, just days after authorities began measuring off their land.

Although authorities insist that the land will be demarcated for the families as promised, those who protested in Freedom Park on Monday said they were worried their share would go to retired soldiers who have also been promised plots in Chhuk district’s Decho Aphivat commune.

Protesters representing 816 families in Kampot province rally in Phnom Penh's Freedom Park on Monday. (Jens Welding Ollgaard/The Cambodia Daily)
Protesters representing 816 families in Kampot province rally in Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Monday. (Jens Welding Ollgaard/The Cambodia Daily)

“They did not explain clearly to us how they will measure the land,” said Suon Chanthou, 46, a representative of the families, who have been living on the land for about a decade.

“They must inform villagers…before they measure the land.”

The protesters planned to march to the National Assembly to submit a petition, but agreed to go by van at the behest of Daun Penh district police chief Huot Chanyarann.

Kampot provincial governor Koy Khun Huor said he was baffled by the protest.

“We are starting to measure the land for them, but why do they go to protest in Phnom Penh?” he said. “I don’t understand them.”

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