AFP
PHNOM PENH — Cambodia deployed riot police Thursday at an ancient temple on the disputed border with Thailand where Thai protesters are due to hold a protest at the weekend, the defence ministry said.
Thailand's royalist "Yellow Shirt" movement says it will rally on Saturday near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to demand that the government push Cambodian forces out of the area.
The disputed frontier around the temple has been the scene of several deadly clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said at least 50 police with dogs, batons, and tear gas have been deployed at the temple ahead of the demonstration.
"Our anti-riot police have been deployed to the border Preah Vihear temple in case the Thai Yellow Shirt protesters illegally cross the border to cause problems," Chhum Socheat told AFP.
"We will order our forces to prevent them from entering. We don't want bloodshed to happen, but if they don't listen to us, we will use our self-defence measures," he said.
The Yellow Shirts helped the current Thai government come to power with a blockade of Bangkok's airports in December, but have since turned their fire on the administration over its handling of the temple issue.
Their protest is scheduled on the same day as the rival "Red Shirt" movement is due to rally in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of a coup that toppled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Cambodia halved the number of troops around the temple at the end of August after tensions eased in the area.
The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades over Preah Vihear.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, but the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.
The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people.
The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
Thailand's royalist "Yellow Shirt" movement says it will rally on Saturday near the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to demand that the government push Cambodian forces out of the area.
The disputed frontier around the temple has been the scene of several deadly clashes between Thai and Cambodian forces since the ruins were granted UN World Heritage status in July 2008.
Cambodian defence ministry spokesman Chhum Socheat said at least 50 police with dogs, batons, and tear gas have been deployed at the temple ahead of the demonstration.
"Our anti-riot police have been deployed to the border Preah Vihear temple in case the Thai Yellow Shirt protesters illegally cross the border to cause problems," Chhum Socheat told AFP.
"We will order our forces to prevent them from entering. We don't want bloodshed to happen, but if they don't listen to us, we will use our self-defence measures," he said.
The Yellow Shirts helped the current Thai government come to power with a blockade of Bangkok's airports in December, but have since turned their fire on the administration over its handling of the temple issue.
Their protest is scheduled on the same day as the rival "Red Shirt" movement is due to rally in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of a coup that toppled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Cambodia halved the number of troops around the temple at the end of August after tensions eased in the area.
The two countries have been at loggerheads for decades over Preah Vihear.
The World Court ruled in 1962 that it belonged to Cambodia, but the most accessible entrance to the ancient Khmer temple with its crumbling stone staircases and elegant carvings is in northeastern Thailand.
The last gunbattle in the temple area in April left three people dead while clashes there in 2008 killed another four people.
The border between the two countries has never been fully demarcated, in part because it is littered with landmines left over from decades of war in Cambodia.
9 comments:
Prasat Preah Vihear belongs to the Kingdom of Cambodia and to all Khmer descents.
Please leave Prasat Preah Vihear in Peace.
The Yellow shirt, you don't deserve to be on this place of our ancestor, because you did not have Khmer blood.
I suggest for the cambodia police use the flame throw if the thai dare to come close to the boder.
SHOOT THE FUCKING THAIS IN THE FUCKING HEAD AND CUT OFF THERE DICK AND FEED IT TO THERE FUCKING FAMILY...AFTER THEY EAT IT, MAKE THERE FAMILY GET DOWN AND EAT MY SHIT.....WHILE THERE ON THE GROUND EATING MY SHIT I WILL PULL THE TRIGGER AND BLOW THERE DUMB FUCKING SIEM BRAINS OUT, THEN I WILL FEED THEM TO THE SHARKS.
FUCK THAILAND ...SHOOT THE FUCKING PAD THAI MOTHERFUCKERS.....FUCKING FAGS GO BACK TO NANCHAO....
why cambodia sends police there....why not use the soldiers which are there already? Use the soldiers to defend our sovereignty not police.....police is for our domestics issues.....with these yellow shirt thais just let them taste the strong medicine...
good move, cambodia!
I agree with your comments above! why used police and dog? i would rather line up all T-55 soviet Tanks with heavy mchine gun instead, and burns them alive like gasoline, if they dare to step inside khmer territory...
Ah Srey Duek still pleu lop lop!
Police and Dogs aren't going to do any good, if those yellows shirt marching toward the temple site, you talking about thousand, thousand of them marching?, army and heavy machine must line up like a fence...
cambodia must go to WAR!! if Thai still refuse to turn in that soldier over, this is not the first time that Thai soldier had done to khmer unarms people that just looking for works inside Thailand...
During 1979 Thai soldier shot and killed, rape alot of khmer girls, women, they even force khmer boy to slept with his own sister, if he refuse, the soldier will rape the girl...k.i.d refugee camp 1979
No more game for them and don't talk to them. Just burned them alive see how they feel and we going kill them all nowadays.
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