S'ville Deputy Police Chief: Police did not beat villagers, they were only protecting a tractor ["using some measure of force"]

Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Policemen Beat 3 Villagers On Disputed Land: CCHR

By Van Roeun
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Some 50 policemen descended on a disputed plot of land in Sihanoukville with a tractor Monday morning, beating three villagers who tried to block their efforts to flatten the villagers' crops, a rights worker said. Villager Khat Thul, 48, said the officers armed with batons arrived at about 8 am to clear the disputed 32 hectares in Mittapheap district's Muoy commune. Two women and a man were hospitalized, said Chhim Savuth, an investigator for the Cambodian Center for Human Rights. Deputy municipal police chief Yin Bunnath denied that police beat the villagers, but added that one female protester accidentally burned her hip when she tried to pour gasoline on the tractor's wheels. Police only tried to prevent the villagers from getting close to the tractor, Yin Bunnath said.