Police dispersed protesters in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen's house

Police dispersing protesting disabled veteran soldiers while others are forced to boar buses to take them home.

By Khmerization
Source: DAP News

Police has on Tuesday morning used force to disperse about 400 veteran disabled soldiers who had camped out in front of Prime Minister Hun Sen's house in the last two days to ask him to help them get their shares of the concession lands earmarked for demobilised and veteran disabled soldiers, reports Deum Ampil.

In 2008, the government had given hundreds of hectares of lands in 2nd December commune in Snuol district of Kratie province to demobilised and veteran disabled soldiers from Batheay district in Kampong Cham province. They said, however, due to corruption only 200 families received the lands and about 620 other families remain landless and local authority prevented them from building houses and huts on the concession lands.

They have protested two times in front the PM's house of but so far no resolution was found for them. This morning, their third protest has been broken up by police, with some disabled veterans forced to board vehicles bound for their hometown.

Mr. Chea Peng Kim, one of the disabled protesting soldiers, said many people had been forced to board the bus, while other adamantly vowing to remain camped in front of the PM's house. He said many villagers had spent between 40,000-50,000 riels ($10-$12.50) to come to Phnom Penh. It would be sad if no solution has been found, he said.

Mr. Hun Sen's Office cannot be reached for comment as a telephone call to Mr. Muong Sameth, one of his cabinet officers, went unanswered.

Mr. Chan Soveth, investigator for human rights group Adhoc, said the government must find a solution for them. He said many of the 400 protests were forced to board the bus against their will to take them back home, while others have been hiding in Phnom Penh and seeking shelters and food from generous people, awaiting a solution.