Kampuchea Krom Buddhist monks clash with riot police during a protest near the Vietnam embassy in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh December 17, 2007. REUTERS/Chor SokuntheaMon Dec 17, 2007
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Three Cambodian Buddhist monks and six riot police were hurt on Monday in a fight that broke out when the monks tried to deliver a protest letter to the Vietnamese embassy in Phnom Penh, officials and witnesses said.
About 40 saffron-robed monks were trying to demand Vietnam stop persecuting Buddhists. When their path was blocked, they started throwing bottles and hitting the 100 riot police positioned near the embassy compound.
The riot police, who were not armed, chased the monks away with electric batons.
One of the marchers, 20-year-old Thach Many, accused police of overreacting. "We just wanted to deliver a protest petition," he told Reuters.
The petition urged Vietnam to free a jailed Cambodian monk called Tim Sakhorn, release five others disrobed by Hanoi early this year and respect the religious rights of the ethnic Cambodian minority in Vietnam's Mekong delta area.
Tim Sakhorn, 39, was defrocked in June and sentenced to a year in jail in Vietnam on charges of upsetting Cambodia-Vietnam relations.
Police accused the monks of staging an illegal and violent protest.
"Monks hid stones in their bags and hit police, injuring them in the arms and legs," said police chief Touch Naroth.
Nobody at the Vietnamese embassy was immediately available for comment.
About 40 saffron-robed monks were trying to demand Vietnam stop persecuting Buddhists. When their path was blocked, they started throwing bottles and hitting the 100 riot police positioned near the embassy compound.
The riot police, who were not armed, chased the monks away with electric batons.
One of the marchers, 20-year-old Thach Many, accused police of overreacting. "We just wanted to deliver a protest petition," he told Reuters.
The petition urged Vietnam to free a jailed Cambodian monk called Tim Sakhorn, release five others disrobed by Hanoi early this year and respect the religious rights of the ethnic Cambodian minority in Vietnam's Mekong delta area.
Tim Sakhorn, 39, was defrocked in June and sentenced to a year in jail in Vietnam on charges of upsetting Cambodia-Vietnam relations.
Police accused the monks of staging an illegal and violent protest.
"Monks hid stones in their bags and hit police, injuring them in the arms and legs," said police chief Touch Naroth.
Nobody at the Vietnamese embassy was immediately available for comment.
12 comments:
power to the Buddhist monks!! Next time they should carry guns and kill these pro-youn mother fuckers. All Khmer people are with you. Keep up the struggle and one victory will come.
I am sadden to have seen people getting hurt during the peaceful demonstration.
I hope our country someday will find peace.
the killing field is continuing in Cambodia.Again the Vietnamese agents are hiding behind the scense. They( Youn )use Camboidan Government's hands to crack down on Khmer.
Hun Sen needs to leave this place. He has not right to be Cambodian.
It is time for him to leave the Cambodian right. Still 2008 election is too long for an idiot to face the reality of the Cambodian crisis.
That is why Mr. Hun Sen was so smitten with Burma's leader. They are two of a kind.
The more you turn ugly the more people are going to see your ugly rear end the more people will vote for someone else in 2008! Good luck to all new candidates! This is your best chance to change Cambodia!
The Vietnamese citizens in Hanoi are allowed to protest against China on territorial integrity matter as of right now.
Why, why, and WHY? Khmers are not allowed to protest against the Hanoi's policy of encroachment on Cambodia's territorial integrity. We are talking about Yuons' agents kidnapped a Cambodian citizen named Ven Tim Sakhorn, and put him on "monkey" trial on groundless claims.
This is a hypocrisy and double-stand play by the Hanoi and the Hun Sen coward regimes on the innocent Khmers.
Khmer Freedom and Justice MUST PREVAILED. WE WANT THE VIETCONGS AND THEIR AGENTS IN CAMBODIA TO GO HOME NOW!!!WE MUST GET RID OF THE HUN SEN'S DICTATORSHIP NOW!!!
CAMBODIA'S HUN SEN REGIME IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE BURMA'S JUNTA.
Hun Sen's government themselves who has blocked Cambodian people in an untolerate stage.
When law to permit demonstration is banned or policemen are son overreacting with demonstration, the violence will become gigantic.
This cause is triggered by Hun Sen government.
Those Buddhist Monks,are brave!I give them credit."ANANIKUM AMERICAN RULES!"
Beat the Hun Sen Dawgs. If they want to keep orders to protect Ah YOUNs, then they need to live in ah srok YOUN Hanoi.
This animal is showing his power only to monks who has no weapons but this fucking idiot is scared to death to Ah Yuon Hanoi
Time will come!
This is very frustrating for me to understand such a simple act of delivering a protest letter to the Vietcong embassy in Cambodia and the AH HUN SEN Vietcong thugs dare to intervene and to use brute force on the Cambodian monks?
I never thought that the Vietcong embassy in Cambodia is more than a place of worship or the Angkor Wat and no Cambodian people or monks can approach it?
What has become of Cambodia under AH HUN SEN Vietcong slave leadership? It seems the Vietcong embassy in Cambodia has more sovereignty than the whole Cambodia!
AH HUN SEN needs to rethink his action!
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