A 67-year-old woman from Kampot province was arrested Wednesday for attempting to prevent a construction company from clearing land she says belongs to her, police said.
The arrested woman, Hin Srin, is part of a group of 12 families in Kompong Trach district who have been in dispute with the Van Vanna construction company since 2011 over about 2 hectares of land.
The families say they are all related and have lived on and farmed the land for generations.
On Wednesday, Ms. Srin allegedly threw a clod of earth at a Van Vanna worker and was promptly arrested, according to district police chief Buth Sokmony.
“There was an order from the Kampot provincial prosecutor to arrest her if she obstructed the company,” he said.
However, Ms. Srin’s son-in-law, Eang Ratana, denied that the elderly woman had used violence against the construction workers.
“My mother-in-law walked in there to show [the company] documents from the provincial office, and she told them they cannot level the land before the court decides who the land belongs to,” he said.
