Police detained and later released five members of the Student Movement for Democracy on Tuesday after they tried to hold a peaceful demonstration in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district against a border agreement that is being discussed this week by Vietnam and Cambodia.
District police detained the men after they walked out of their office in Tuk La’ak II commune and directly into a police roadblock of about 50 armed officers that had been set up in advance of the protest, about 10 meters from the office.
Reporters saw a police official punch Sieng Makara, one of the protesters, in the eye, and protester Sar Longdeth was allegedly hit in the leg with a baton.
The pair were detained at the Tuol Kok police headquarters for about seven hours along with fellow protesters Sorn Dara, Ken Sara and Ir Channa. They were released after thumbprinting an agreement promising not to hold future demonstrations.
The detention “was very cruel because we didn’t have any weapon or cause any trouble,” said Ir Channa, the movement’s deputy secretary-general.
Men Serei, Tuol Kok deputy
district governor, said the five were merely “invited” to the police station for re-education.
“We invited them to educate them,” because they did not have government permission for the protest, he said.
“We are concerned that when there is a demonstration without permission, there will be no one responsible if there is any trouble,” said Men Serei.
The student movement had requested permission to protest, but were refused by City Hall. The movement claims the new border agreement with Vietnam that the government is considering would cede 40,000 square km of Cambodian territory.
Vietnam’s First Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung is expected to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen today and on Thursday in Siem Reap province.
Also Tuesday, more than 100 district police officials sealed off the office of the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Coordination Committee in Russei Keo district and prevented committee members from entering.
The committee had been planning a Tuesday march to the Vietnam Embassy, said Executive Director Kim Vanchheng. The committee placed banners outside its office urging Nguyen Tan Dung to allow ethnic Khmer people living in Vietnam to establish Khmer-language schools and conduct traditional Khmer ceremonies, but the police confiscated the banners, he said.
Ly Lay, Russei Keo district police chief, declined comment on why the banners had been removed.
Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said the demonstrations were not given permission because they could cause traffic jams. “If they want to hold demonstrations at their locations, not marching, we will give them permission,” he said.
Though peaceful public protests have largely been banned since early 2003, Phnom Penh Municipality recently recommended that the Interior Ministry allow protests against the return of opposition leader Sam Rainsy to Cambodia. Anti-Sam Rainsy banners have sprung up on the gates of high schools, universities and colleges across the capital.
The government has allowed the protests against Sam Rainsy because they have not involved marches, Khieu Kanharith maintained.
“The government is never biased,” he added.
Chan Soveth, a monitor with the local rights group Adhoc, condemned the police violence against the Student Movement for Democracy. “This is a serious violation of human rights,” he said.