Police Broke Up Protesters in Phnom Penh
Police broke up protesters as Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister visits Cambodia
Phnom Penh police Tuesday broke up a protest and arrested 5 organizers who protested against the plan to sign the additional agreement to the 1985 border treaty with Vietnam. Dozens of police blocked all roads leading to the headquarters of Khmer Students for Democracy to prevent protesters from reaching the streets. Despite police's effort, some twenty protesters managed to reach the police blockade. Witnesses said police officers seized all the signs and banners from the protesters and used force to break up the protest. Police reportedly threw the five men into police truck and took them to Tuol Kork headquarters. The five men were later released after they reportedly agreed not to carry out the street demonstration. Police denied that the five men were arrested saying that they were invited to the Tuol Kork district headquarter to solve the problem. One of the men who was arrested said police threw him and the others onto the police truck. The five men who were arrested said police has violated their rights to carry out peaceful demonstrations. Today's protest coincides with the official two-day visit of Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister to Cambodia. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen plans to visit Vietnam in October and to sign an additional agreement to the 1985 Cambodia-Vietnam border treaty. Cambodian civil societies and the opposition party calls the additional agreement illegal and have urged the government to stop recognizing the 1985 border treaty with Vietnam. The Cambodian government has said it will sign the agreement as planned.