Handful of protesters arrested at US Embassy
AROUND six people were arrested outside the United States Embassy in Phnom Penh yesterday for attempting to stage a small protest, but were released later in the afternoon after agreeing to not demonstrate again without a City Hall permit.
However, the motives of the demonstrators, from the littleknown Ponleu Siri Aryakmetrey group, remained unclear as of press time. They were taken in by police and Daun Penh district security guards while approaching the embassy with a banner reading: “We unite together to extinguish the third world war”.
“We do not know where they were from,” said City Hall spokesman Met Measpheakdey.“We do not know whether their organisation is legitimate or not, or has registered or not.”
Measpheakdey added that the handful of demonstrators were questioned and released at 3pm. He said authorities were uncertain about the motives of the protest, but Un Sam Ath, police chief of Daun Penh district’s Wat Phnom commune, said they had come to “ask the US to have peace for Cambodia”.
Another group, the League for Peace and Youth Network, said in August it would organise antiUS protests but has not done so. The group was behind a 2015 protest at the National Assembly that ended with Bodyguard Unit members brutally beating two opposition lawmakers. Anti-US rhetoric by government officials, meanwhile, has escalated over the last two months.
A US Embassy spokesman confirmed the presence of the “peaceful demonstration” yesterday, but directed further queries to local authorities. A security guard, who requested anonymity, said the group had come once before to protest.
is innocent and the authorities violated his rights,” Sokong said.
The government and law enforcement have been accused of violating parliamentary immunity in the past, which is only allowed in cases of an “in flagrante delicto” offence.
Even in such cases, the Constitution requires a two-thirds majority to lift an arrested lawmaker’s immunity. Though the ruling Cambodian People Party does not hold such a majority, it has repeatedly allowed cases against opposition lawmakers to proceed.
National Police spokesman K i r t h Ch a n t h a r i t h t o o k umbrage with Sokha’s claims that the arrest was a violation of his rights, saying the CNRP leader was “wrong”, and that the police would not “dare” arrest him had he not committed a flagrant offence.
“We take action according to the law because everybody knows, and we also know, that he has immunity. That is a right that no one can abuse, except that he committed a red handed crime,” Chantharith said.