By Win Thida, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
16 November 2007
At least 200 police and hired workers armed with batons and sticks ousted a group of squatters from land in Phnom Penh, rights groups and witnesses said Friday.
"Everything has been bulldozed, even my rice pots and plates," one Dangkao district villager said. "They also burned our houses down, and when we ran to put the fire out, we were chased with gunfire. We're just like crabs."
Illegal residents are increasingly being driven from property as economic progress in Phnom Penh leads to development, but rights groups say the displaced are ignored afterward.
"They just came to bulldoze our homes, and we were not even allowed to take our belongings," another villager said. "They confiscated our belongings and loaded them into their two trucks. We all bought this land, but they charged us with taking it illegally."
Dangkao Governor Kruoch Phan said the "slums" were built on a sewage system.
"They came to grab the land and caused some sewage problems," he said. "We drove them out to restore the system. They keep coming from everywhere; we just cannot stop them."
Ni Chakriya, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc, appealed to authorities to stop "chasing people off their land."
He also said illegal residents should be compensated before they are expelled.
"Everything has been bulldozed, even my rice pots and plates," one Dangkao district villager said. "They also burned our houses down, and when we ran to put the fire out, we were chased with gunfire. We're just like crabs."
Illegal residents are increasingly being driven from property as economic progress in Phnom Penh leads to development, but rights groups say the displaced are ignored afterward.
"They just came to bulldoze our homes, and we were not even allowed to take our belongings," another villager said. "They confiscated our belongings and loaded them into their two trucks. We all bought this land, but they charged us with taking it illegally."
Dangkao Governor Kruoch Phan said the "slums" were built on a sewage system.
"They came to grab the land and caused some sewage problems," he said. "We drove them out to restore the system. They keep coming from everywhere; we just cannot stop them."
Ni Chakriya, an investigator for the rights group Adhoc, appealed to authorities to stop "chasing people off their land."
He also said illegal residents should be compensated before they are expelled.
4 comments:
"They came to grab the land and caused some sewage problems," he said. "We drove them out to restore the system. They keep coming from everywhere; we just cannot stop them."
LOL, governor (Kruoch Phan), what do mean, "we just cannot stop them,"? Just deport them back to south Vietnam, and add a few border guards there temporarily. That should buy us some times to clean up the messes and develop the area further.
"He also said illegal residents should be compensated before they are expelled." -- Ni Chakriya (the idiot)
LOL, hahaha, LOL, hahaha ... Even the US can't afford to do that. hahaha, LOL, hahaha... .
These people sold their land to the compay already, but they don't want to move out. They have find some place else to live, they can't live here in the development area.
Well, why they can buy a place nearby with the money that they got for their land and come to work where they used to live, once it is all developed.
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