More than 100 students and monks will protest outside the National Assembly today against Vietnamese immigrants in Cambodia, one of the organizers said Thursday.
Men Nath, second president of the newly formed Democratic Front of Khmer Students and Intellectuals, said the demonstration has been timed to coincide with Liberation Day celebrations, the anniversary of the day 21 years ago when Vietnamese troops marched into Phnom Penh and ended the Khmer Rouge rule.
“We do not respect this day, because we are not indebted to the Vietnamese,” said Men Nath.
In a letter addressed to the Cambodian government on Wednesday, the new group listed grievances against what they term illegal Vietnamese immigrants who remained in the country after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese in 1989.
The presence here of the Vietnamese is, “a political move which interferes with Cambodia’s internal affairs, and violates Asean’s non-interference in internal affairs,” the letter stated.
The group is made up of students, intellectuals and monks, some of whom broke away from the rival Students’ Movement of Democracy in November last year when they became unhappy with its change of direction and lack of commitment in the fight for democracy, said Sun Sokunmealea, general-secretary of the new student group.
In the past, other groups, including rival parties to the CPP, also have criticized the Liberation Day celebrations.
