Violent crackdown on demonstrators by police forces and CPP thugs in front of the Vietnamese Embassy in Phnom Penh. Cambodian Buddhist monks, youth and other citizens want the Hanoi government to apologize to the Khmer people following an allegation made recently by a Vietnamese Embassy official that Kampuchea Krom (or Southern Cambodia annexed by Vietnam last century) had always belonged to Vietnam.

Sao Mon* hasn’t left his small, fifth-storey apartment in Thailand since the May 22 coup.

The 37-year-old asylum seeker came to Thailand looking for a safe haven five years ago, but now fears that at any moment, he, his wife and two young daughters will be arrested and added to the swell of over 250,000 Cambodian returnees. But as Khmer Krom, Mon and his family could face more than just economic consequences upon return.

“If they arrest us and send us back to Vietnam, I will die,” said Mon, who sorts chilies in his living room to make money without leaving the house.

“For Khmer Krom in Thailand, the circumstances have gotten even worse as Thai authorities [started] raiding to collect illegal migrant workers and send them back to Cambodia. Most of [the Khmer Krom] are in hiding and locking themselves in their rooms,” Ang Chanrith, MIRO executive director, said.