Residents seek market price

T85 residents sit down during a protest in Tonle Bassac commune, in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district yesterday. Photo by: Hong Menea

Thursday, 20 October 2011 12:01
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

Representatives of 32 families living in the capital’s Chamkarmon district staged a protest yesterday in Tonle Bassac commune, pleading with Prime Minister Hun Sen to intervene on their behalf against the Thai Bun Roong company, which they say is forcing them to sell their land at below market value to make way for development.

Yesterday’s protest follows a letter that the residents, living on a parcel of land in Tonle Bassac commune known as T85, sent to Hun Sen last week. In that letter, dated October 12 and received by the Post yesterday, the villagers argue against a September Council of Ministers announcement demanding they either sell their land to the company for US$400 a square metre or resettle on company-provided lots in Dangkor district.

“The September 8 announcement from the Council of Ministers violates our rights by limiting the price we can sell our land for. This is contrary to your decision dated December 29, 2007,” the letter says.

Three Injured as Villagers Stone, Torch Demolition Equipment [-Hun Sen's predicted revolution in the work]

By Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Origianl report from Phnom Penh
04 December 2007

Three people were injured Monday, one of them seriously, when a mob of villagers threw stones at a construction crew they say were intent on destroying their homes.

The injured were a local village official and two bystanders, witnesses said, but their identities were not known.

A representative of the construction company 7NG said Tuesday a large truck carrying a bulldozer on a trailer broke down in front of a village in Chamkarmon district, Phnom Penh, whose residents began throwing stones at the crew.

Villagers say the crew was in the process of unloading the bulldozer, a common piece of demolition equipment in the growing problem of land grabs across Cambodia.

Rights investigator Chhim Savuth, of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, said a truck towing a bulldozer had stopped in front of the village and appeared to be backing up in preparation for unloading.

"The villagers alleged that it would destroy their homes," he said. "Hundreds of villagers set fire to tires and threw rocks on the equipment that was about to go down, resulting in broken glass, but the driver escaped injuries."

Srey Sothea, president of 7NG, said the company was not going to have anyone arrested. But he said the transportation of the equipment should not excuse "the intention to assault" shown by the villagers.

"Usually the destruction [of homes] is not my capacity," he said. "Daring to destroy 100 homes? How can we do it? It would require the participation of, the formation of, an appropriate coalition commission. Going alone without the knowledge of the authorities, not even a police officer would know about it."

Ung Poryou, a resident of the villager, said the stones were thrown by children, ages five to six, who were worried the company would take their parents' land.