PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - About 300 taxi drivers in Siem Reap province on Monday angrily protested a new parking rule at Angkor Wat, the site of Cambodia's world-famous ancient temple and its main tourist attraction, officials and witnesses said.
Protesters smashed a sign belonging to a Chinese company that rents battery-powered carts for tourists visiting the Angkor archaeological park and blamed the company for the new rule against them.
Since Sept. 1, Apsara Authority, the government body managing the park, has forbidden Cambodian taxi drivers from parking in front of the Angkor Wat temple, 38-year-old protester So Saro said by phone from Siem Reap, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
He claimed Apsara evicted them from the site to give the Chinese firm exclusive parking for its carts and directed Cambodian taxis to park about 500 meters (550 yards) away.
The site is a prime spot where restaurants and souvenir shops catering to tourists are located.
So Saro said that on top of the eviction, Apsara plans to charge a fine of 1,000 riel (US$0.24; euro 0.19) for every taxi parked at the cart park for less than four hours, and that the fine would be doubled if the parking time exceeds four hours.
"The rule hurts all of us, and we are outraged by it," So Saro said, adding he has been working as a taxi driver for seven years. "We have to protest against it because if we don't, one day they will kick us out of business."
He said the protesters are demanding to be allowed to park their vehicles in front of Angkor Wat along with the company's carts.
Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Nuon Bophal said that some of the protesters vandalized the sign of the Chinese company but that nobody was hurt.
He said traffic from Siem Reap town to the Angkor park was jammed by the procession of protesting motorcycle and car taxis, but added that the temples remained open to visitors.
Officials at the Apsara Authority could not be immediately reached for comment.
Protesters smashed a sign belonging to a Chinese company that rents battery-powered carts for tourists visiting the Angkor archaeological park and blamed the company for the new rule against them.
Since Sept. 1, Apsara Authority, the government body managing the park, has forbidden Cambodian taxi drivers from parking in front of the Angkor Wat temple, 38-year-old protester So Saro said by phone from Siem Reap, 230 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
He claimed Apsara evicted them from the site to give the Chinese firm exclusive parking for its carts and directed Cambodian taxis to park about 500 meters (550 yards) away.
The site is a prime spot where restaurants and souvenir shops catering to tourists are located.
So Saro said that on top of the eviction, Apsara plans to charge a fine of 1,000 riel (US$0.24; euro 0.19) for every taxi parked at the cart park for less than four hours, and that the fine would be doubled if the parking time exceeds four hours.
"The rule hurts all of us, and we are outraged by it," So Saro said, adding he has been working as a taxi driver for seven years. "We have to protest against it because if we don't, one day they will kick us out of business."
He said the protesters are demanding to be allowed to park their vehicles in front of Angkor Wat along with the company's carts.
Provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Nuon Bophal said that some of the protesters vandalized the sign of the Chinese company but that nobody was hurt.
He said traffic from Siem Reap town to the Angkor park was jammed by the procession of protesting motorcycle and car taxis, but added that the temples remained open to visitors.
Officials at the Apsara Authority could not be immediately reached for comment.
4 comments:
Come on now! Let be little more democratic here! Taxi and the go cart will have to compet for business and please allow equal opportunity!
well Hun Sen regime, never think about the job of taxi driver, they think only about commission they receive from this Chinese campany.
very soon, they business will be given to Chinese or Korean. you ar Khmer? do the farmer and servant, that the blind eye Hun Sen and his crook idea.
veryday, his worry is people get better life and knowledge, then none want him
Hey, hun sen is deadly blind and deaf. he does not hear or see such pain of Khmer people.... except the cry of a yuong... it is da way he call it "STUPID FREE MARKET"... He is in favor for those bugs sucking KHMER's freshhhhhh bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooodssss.
Go to hell a khanom yuon.... You traitors and cheater go to hell now..
HUN SEN CHOL CHET TWER KHNOM OY YOUN& CHINES TEAT NA,HEAY CHOL CHET NHAM "EAT" KONDOUY TEAT NA
Post a Comment