Cambodian police criticised for protest crackdowns

"Police used electric (stun) batons and shields to beat the workers. The woman who miscarried was electrocuted right on her stomach," Ry Sithyneth of Cambodia's Free Trade Union said, adding another 10 workers were injured.

Cambodian police criticised for protest crackdowns

The Bangkok Post | 29 May 2013

Three people were knocked unconscious after Cambodian police fired water jets at a protest over disputed land in the capital Wednesday, an activist said, prompting condemnation of the state's response to dissent.

File picture shows a woman from Boeung Kak lakeside community pleading with anti riot-police during a land rights protest in Phnom Penh on April 22, 2013. Three people were knocked unconscious after Cambodian police fired water jets at a protest over disputed land in the capital Wednesday, an activist said, prompting condemnation of the state's response to dissent.

The incident followed violent scenes at a factory making clothes for sportswear giant Nike on Monday in which police allegedly used stun batons to disperse a protest over wages, resulting in a pregnant woman suffering a miscarriage.

In Wednesday's incident more than 100 people staged the sit-down demonstration in the city centre calling for more compensation or a return of land given by the government to a Chinese company for a commercial development.

Activist Tep Vanny told AFP that three protesters were knocked out after they were hit by water jets as police broke up the rally.

"Land rights issues are getting worse in Cambodia," she said, adding the protest aimed to force the government to reconsider its decision to evict them -- with little compensation -- from Phnom Penh's lakeside area.

The land belonged to the government and was handed to the Chinese firm, which has so far left it unused.

"We were forced to use fire trucks to spray water on them to clear the street for traffic," Phnom Penh's police chief Chuon Sovann told AFP, adding he had heard some activists may have been hurt and officers called ambulances to help them.

The dispute is the latest in a series of high-profile cases of alleged forced evictions and land grabs by powerful interests.

On Monday riot police swept into the sportswear factory in the southern province of Kampong Speu and struck protesters including a pregnant woman, according to a union member.

"Police used electric (stun) batons and shields to beat the workers. The woman who miscarried was electrocuted right on her stomach," Ry Sithyneth of Cambodia's Free Trade Union said, adding another 10 workers were injured.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment on the allegation.

Rights groups criticised the two police actions, with one activist decrying them as "a new low" in cracking down on dissent.

"It reflects a ruling party that is starting to fear it could lose control... (and) growing discontent and willingness to take to the street by the people to demand what is just," added Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights.

The country will hold a general election on July 28 and strongman premier Hun Sen, who has led the country since 1985, is looking to secure another mandate.