Yes I know I’m late. I had something to eat…
The CNRP rally at Freedom Park went on smoothly while many CNRP supporters (and non-CNRP supporters) got quite irritated at the numerous road blocks decorated with razor wire and riot police spread all over town. There were incidents at Wat Unalom where CNRP supporters tore down a barbed wire fence and were then greeted with fire hoses and a fairly mild tear gas the police must have been keen to try out. CNRP President Sam Rainsy came down afterwards to bring back the crowd to Freedom Place where the sleep-in started. Other incidents were reported at a barricade near Independence Monument and another one at the Norodom flyover later this evening.
EDIT: During the night 29 year old Mao Sok Chan was killed when returning home after work by a bullet fired by the police at a road block people tried to tear down as it caused a traffic jam.
The 2013 elections photographs are HERE.
The first day of the planned opposition CNRP demonstration has started. In a paranoid move from the authorities, Phnom Penh woke up as a city under siege with numerous police barricades manned by hundreds of Military Police, Gendarmerie and Police units in full riot gear, preventing any sensible planning of itinerary, denying citizens from reaching either their homes or their business. Thousands of people nevertheless gathered at Freedom Park and were joined by CNRP co-Presidents who walked all the way from their homes through the streets, gathering a huge crowd of supporters on the way. Later that morning they marched towards the riverfront, broke through a barbed wire barricade and went praying at a riverside pagoda before returning to Freedom Place.
The 2013 elections photographs are HERE.
About 250 monks and citizens walked through the streets of Phnom Penh, praying for a peacefull resolution of the 2013 Cambodian legislative elections, the day before a 3-day mass rally planned by the opposition CNRP to protest the results of the polls.
The photographs from the 2013 elections can be seen HERE on my regularly updated website…
Posted Saturday Sep 14, 2013, in
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After this morning’s meeting with King Norodom Sihamoni, where both the CPP and the CNRP received an invitation for the MP’s to attend the opening session of parliament later this September 23rd, the CNRP held a press conference where a meeting between top level party members was announced with their CPP counterparts next monday at the National Assembly. The CNRP mass demonstration for tomorrow, sunday, will go on as planned, and preparations at the CNRP headquarters go on full swing…
More on the 2013 elections HERE…
Today’s scheduled meeting between the leaders of the ruling CPP and opposition CNRP, both invited by King Norodom Sihamoni to discuss the political outcome of the Cambodian 2013 legislative elections, lasted less than 30 minutes. No statements were made.
The 2013 elections photographs are HERE.
Posted Saturday Sep 14, 2013, in
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This morning it was a joint operation with the people evicted from Borei Keila and Boeung Kak lake in front of the Municipality to request a resolution of their ongoing land issues. When those from Boeung Kak lake heard that the Governor of Phnom Penh was attending a ceremony at a pagoda nearby they moved over there but he left just before they arrived.
This is (at least) the 57th (!!!!) demonstration since January 2012 involving the Boeung Kak lake community I take photographs of. I confess I have missed a few… But remember: I take photographs of them since they started demonstrating in 2007, when it was clear the lake next to which they were living was going to be filled with sand by a real estate developer and that thousands of families were going to be evicted.
More on Boeung Kak lake HERE and HERE
This is a follow-up post on the ‘Quest for Land‘ story which is available as an iApp on iTunes and which reports on land issues in Cambodia since the year 2000 with texts by Robert Carmichael and over 700 photographs.
An explosive device was found near the National Assembly and destroyed by a controlled explosion at 10:42 AM. It seems 3 other explosive devices tied together were found near a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Phnom Penh. It is unclear who planted the devices but now the government can invoke security reasons to prohibit the opposition CNRP demonstrations which are planned on 15, 16 and 17 September.
More about the 2013 elections HERE…
(re-edited at 13:57)
Posted Friday Sep 13, 2013, in
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The previous Boeung Kak lake demonstration (see HERE), commemorating the 365th day of detention for Yorm Bopha, land rights activist and Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience, was not fully representative of their intent as a large amount of demonstration material was held up by the police. So the community reiterated this morning, but this time in full gear, by demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court, marched in front of the Royal Palace, even though the King returns tomorrow only from Beijing, and went on through a police blockade to the E.U. delegation, to end up at the World Bank.
The whole story about Boeung Kak lake, all the way back to 2007, can be found HERE and HERE.
Or you can dig deep into Cambodian land issues through the ‘The Quest’, an app for the iPad available HERE.
