One villager was stabbed in the back and several others injured by flying rocks when Battambang province residents clashed with RCAF soldiers and laborers over disputed land in Ratanak Mondol district on Wednesday morning, villagers and officials said.
Ek Siloeum, 46, was stabbed in the back and the hand by a man in uniform after a skirmish erupted when 20 villagers went to clear cassava saplings planted by RCAF soldiers on disputed land, said villager Lay Mean, who claimed she was also hit by several rocks.
Lay Mean claimed the soldiers and their laborers had planted cassava in Treng commune under the orders of Prum Patt, commander of Border Battalion 504, despite orders from top government officials that neither soldiers nor villagers should lay claim to the land.
“Prum Patt is a powerful RCAF commander. He violated orders from top government leaders because he is fearless,” Lay Mean said.
Prum Patt declined comment.
Villagers said five men had gone into hiding fearing they would be arrested for inciting people to clear and destroy the cassava.
Provincial Governor Prach Chan said he received an order from Svay Sitha, secretary-general of the newly formed National Authority for the Resolution of Land Disputes, to investigate the incident.
Ros Limseung, the district’s police chief, said villagers began the skirmish, adding that they had arrived at the scene armed with hoes and knives and started cutting down the cassava plants.
“[They] started fighting first,” he said.
He added that a representative of Prum Patt has filed a complaint with the police accusing five villagers of destroying more than eight hectares of cassava.
In a letter to Prach Chan on Feb 14, Om Yentieng, an adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen, ordered both the villagers and Prum Patt to stop developing the disputed land until the court has ruled on the case.
He said villagers currently living on the land should be allowed to remain there.
