Students and security guards from a Phnom Penh bus station got into a brawl early Sunday over what police said was a case of routine extortion of travelers passing the depot on Route 6A.
When security at the Russei Keo district bus station detained five busloads of Norton University students and demanded they pay a $1.31 “parking fee” before continuing, a group of the students objected that the fee wasn’t fair, police said.
One student, Choa Chankosal, took a photograph of security guards holding up other vehicles and demanding money at the Prek Leap station.
Several guards then grabbed him and about five of his classmates, dragging them out of the bus and beating them, Choa Chankosal said.
Choa Chankosal suffered a black eye and three other students suffered minor injuries in the ensuing scuffle, police said.
Lao Sum, the station owner, who is also a police colonel in the Ministry of Interior, admitted his men had beaten the students. He said he negotiated with the director of Norton University to pay $200 compensation to the students.
The bus station was set up last June when the city ordered taxis entering Phnom Penh from the northern provinces to have their passengers disembark at Prek Leap and transfer to buses.
At the time, city officials said the move would reduce congestion and help beautify the capital. But local police say the bus company is using its privilege to hold up private cars and buses, forcing them to stop at the station and pay a fee before continuing along Route 6A.
If drivers ignore instructions or refuse to pay money, “security guards smashed their windows and rear-vision mirrors,” said El Rany, penal police chief in Russei Keo district.
Officers at the local police post, who asked not to be named, said they had seen security threatening passengers with handguns but dared not interfere because the station owner is a senior government official.
