Police have increased security around the neighborhood where Prime Minister Hun Sen’s son is scheduled to have a huge wedding party on Sunday, angering some residents.
“It is so strange,” said a homeowner in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district, the site of Hun Many’s wedding party.
“I’ve never seen this since I’ve lived in Phnom Penh,” the homeowner, who asked not to be named, said Friday. “The police disturb us very much.”
Residents living around Tuol Kok’s Mondial Center on Mao Tse-tung Boulevard, the planned party location, said that military police asked them Thursday night to list the names of relatives who are visiting them and the number of motorbikes that they own.
Police defended their actions, saying that they need to protect the premier’s family and friends.
“If anything happens during a high-ranking official’s wedding, it is the responsibility of our local police,” said Meas Sarith, deputy police chief for Tuol Kok district.
He added that police asked residents to disclose their relatives and motorbikes for security reasons.
If the police know who is coming to visit residents who live near the location of Hun Many’s wedding party, it will “be easy for police to check and investigate who is a good or bad person,” Meas Sarith said. “Sometimes, a thief might be hiding in a villager’s home.”
Hun Many was scheduled to marry Yim Chhay Lin, 21, on Friday in a smaller, traditional gathering. She is the daughter of Yim Chhay Ly, secretary of state at the Ministry of Rural Development.
About 3,000 guests have been invited to Sunday’s bash. More than 100 police will line streets surrounding the Mondial Center, said Vann Nary, deputy police chief of Phnom Penh. “The streets will not close” during the party, he said.
For their extra work, police expect party organizers to pay them—either in cash or with food. “Our police accept the food,” Meas Sarith said, “because our salary is too little.”