Second Prime Minister Hun Sen said he has procured 2,000 jobs in garment factories for squatters in Phnom Penh.
“I have talked with [garment] factories and one factory has agreed to provide me with 2,000 jobs. I will keep them for the Buddhinh [Bassac] squatters,” Hun Sen said in a speech Sunday, referring to a camp between the Bassac River and Sothearos Boulevard.
Along with several devastating fires in the past, the squatters’ camp became well-known last month as the starting point for several demonstrations against the return of deposed first prime minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh. Many of the protesters said they were from the camp and that they had been paid to participate.
“One day, [First Prime Minister] Ung Huot went to the [Bassac] squatters’ camp, but the people there told him, ‘This is the place of Hun Sen,’” the second prime minister said in his speech dedicating a mosque in Kompong Chhnang province.
Roger Tan, vice president of the Cambodia Garment Manufacturer’s Association, said, “I have heard that something is brewing with the recruitment of workers. But we have not been officially notified yet.”
