Tensions at Dey Krahorm village in Phnom Penh’s Tonle Bassac commune exploded into violence Monday night after what NGOs and locals allege was provocation by a private company that wants to develop land there.
At around 7:30 pm a truck owned by development company 7NG carrying a Caterpillar excavator pulled up at the corner of the Dey Krahorm settlement-where 304 families have been told they must vacate their land.
Dey Krahorm resident Cheng Navy said that about 500 people gathered at the spot where the excavator was parked and had begun to extend and retract its mechanical arm.
Shortly thereafter a number of youths began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, which caught fire in front of the vehicles, according to witnesses.
The windows at the front and back of the excavator were shattered.
“They were coming to bulldoze our land in the night time,” Cheng Navy said. “[7NG] created the problem,” she said.
A representative of 7NG company claimed Tuesday that three of his workers were injured in the incident and have filed complaints with the police, while the company itself has filed a lawsuit against several village representatives for damaging company property.
Dey Krahorm resident Chea Hoeun said older residents had tried in vain to stop the youths throwing rocks. But he added that he did not believe the excavator had arrived accidentally. “This is disputed land and no excavators can come here until negotiations are concluded,” Chea Hoeun said.
Residents of Dey Krahorm, many holding land-ownership documents dating back to the 1980s, have recently been offered $6,000 per family to move to a remote part of Dangkao district 20 km away. Numerous families have already left the threatened city center community for as little as $800 in compensation.
A recent valuation by Bonna Realty priced the 3.7 hectares of disputed land on which Dey Krahorm is located at around $44.4 million.
“There has been a long history of provocation at this site,” said David Pred, country director for the NGO Bridges Across Borders, which works on housing and land issues with the poor.
“This community has faced an unbelievable level of intimidation and they are being evicted piecemeal, family by family,” he said.
Srey Sothea, chairman of 7NG, denied that there was any intention to provoke residents.
“The driver did not know the way to the 7NG office,” he said. “The digger was broken and he intended to repair it.”
If the company had intended to level the village with the excavator, Srey Sothea added, they would have brought police forces and informed the authorities first. He said the company planned to meet village representatives to for final negotiations over compensation.
Chamkar Mon district police chief Uch Sokhon said Tuesday that none of his officers had been at the site during the incident but that 7NG had filed a complaint at the commune police post.
“The [Dey Krahorm] people created the problem,” he said, declining to comment further.
Chan Vichet, 29, a representative of the Dey Krahorm villager, said Tuesday that he was afraid of being linked to the incident. He alleged that 7NG has a pattern of using the court to intimidate residents.
“They want to get rid of village representatives one by one,” he said.
Following the stoning of the excavator Monday night, the villagers in Dey Krahorm played over a loudspeaker a 2003 speech by Prime Minister Hun Sen in which he announced that the Dey Krahorm land was a social land concession.
A military policeman arrived at the village around 10 pm and told residents that the truck and excavator had parked there by accident.
Soon after, at least 15 men boarded the damaged vehicles and drove off to park in front of the nearby Phnom Penh Center where a small 7NG office is located.
Phnom Penh Municipal Deputy Governor Pa Socheatvong said he was too busy to speak with a reporter about the incident.
