Tuesday, 09 November 2010 By Vong Sokheng
Phnom Penh Post
Photo by: Heng Chivoan
Red Cross volunteers encircle the Independence Monument as King Norodom Sihamoni lights a ceremonial flame to mark the Kingdom’s 57th year of independence.
About 2,000 people gathered at the Independence Monument in Phnom Penh today for a ceremony marking the 57th anniversary of the country’s emancipation from French colonial rule.
A brass band played patriotic anthems as crowds of students, diplomats, police and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers – some bearing photographs of King Norodom Sihamoni and his father – gathered to watch senior officials lay wreaths at the monument.
The King laid a wreath at the foot of the monument and ignited the flame inside its central canopy.
According to tradition, the flame will remain lit for three days under the guard of RCAF soldiers and will be extinguished again by King Sihamoni on Thursday.
Independence Day marks the day – November 9, 1953 – Cambodia was granted its independence by France, ending 90 years of colonial rule. It was also the culmination of then-King Norodom Sihanouk’s so-called Royal Crusade for Independence, the legacy of which he subsequently used to cement his role at the centre of Cambodian political life....read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
A brass band played patriotic anthems as crowds of students, diplomats, police and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces soldiers – some bearing photographs of King Norodom Sihamoni and his father – gathered to watch senior officials lay wreaths at the monument.
The King laid a wreath at the foot of the monument and ignited the flame inside its central canopy.
According to tradition, the flame will remain lit for three days under the guard of RCAF soldiers and will be extinguished again by King Sihamoni on Thursday.
Independence Day marks the day – November 9, 1953 – Cambodia was granted its independence by France, ending 90 years of colonial rule. It was also the culmination of then-King Norodom Sihanouk’s so-called Royal Crusade for Independence, the legacy of which he subsequently used to cement his role at the centre of Cambodian political life....read the full story in tomorrow’s Phnom Penh Post or see the updated story online from 3PM UTC/GMT +7 hours.
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