Unions Trying To Regain Momentum…
Both at several locations in Cambodia and in front of cambodian embassies abroad, a series of events were organised simultaneously to request the release of 21 workers (2 others were granted bail a few days before), activists and union leaders who were arrested during the early January crackdown by the army which resulted in the killing of at least 5 people.
In Phnom Penh alone, students in front of the university released balloons carrying the request to free the 23 people, workers did the same at Veng Sreng road near where the workers were killed, The Boeung Kak lake and the Borei Keila community did their thing in front of the Ministry of Justice and the Appeals Court. And union leaders convened at the Imperial Hotel to agree on a petition requesting the release of all 23 prisoners, a discussion on a basic wage of $US160/ month, a charge against those who used violence at Yakjing factory and on Veng Sreng road, a cancellation of the ban of public gatherings, a cancellation of the complaints filed by the companies against union workers, the reinstallment of all those workers who were fired and the payment of their salaries.
After the meeting a group of about 300 union leaders, workers and activists, led by monks from the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ), marched to the Preah Ang Dong riverfront pagoda to pray and release birds and balloons.
