Food vendors furious after Phnom Penh police destroy stalls in land clash

Authorities have been looking for ways to clear the area for a planned high-rise development.

By RFA Khmer
2023.12.20


 

Street vendors and local residents remain outraged after 20 Phnom Penh police officers destroyed food stalls and threw fish and vegetables into a nearby lake during a bitter clash this week.

Authorities in Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov District have been looking for ways to evict food vendors and residents and dismantle homes from an area near Ta Mok Lake ahead of a planned high-rise development.

Tuesday’s confrontation with police left several residents injured and many still raw with anger.

“Look at this, my knees were dragged until it was cut,” a resident told Radio Free Asia. “I think the Prek Pnov district authority is brutal. There is no heart, no pure Khmer heart, no Khmer blood. They are more brutal than the Khmer Rouge.”

 

A woman throws a table during clashes with police in the Ta Mok Lake area of Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov District on Dec. 19, 2023. (Screenshot from citizen journalist video)

Government officials have told RFA in the past that they believe the residents are living in the area illegally. Land disputes between powerful officials, connected businessmen and poor local residents are a common occurrence in Cambodia.

“There’s justice only for the rich and none for the poor,” food vendor Tim Ouk told RFA. “They’ve caused us suffering until we have nothing to eat.”

Ta Mok Lake is the largest lake in Phnom Penh, with a total area of more than 3,240 hectares (8,000 acres). Hundreds of hectares of the lake have already been filled in to pave the way for the development projects.

 

Vendors and police are seen in the Ta Mok Lake area of Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov District on Dec. 19, 2023. (Screenshot from citizen journalist video)

RFA wasn’t immediately able to obtain comments from Phnom Penh Gov. Khuong Sreng or Prek Pnov District Gov. Thim Sam An about Tuesday’s confrontation.

Local resident Sea Davy said if the district authorities come again, the community will join forces to protect themselves, even in the face of violence or arrest.

“We do not know which side to rely on. If the authorities come to abuse us, we don’t know who to file complaints with,” she said. “The people’s force will protect us.”

Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.