Sihanoukville, Cambodia News: Over the past two days, there have been many reports on social media of an on-going land dispute near Sihanoukville, which has led to violent clashes with police.
At 9:27 am, on 19 ~ 04 ~ 2019, there was a violent dispute between citizens and the police in Prey Nup district, Preah Sihanouk province, on National Road 4, in Khki village, Bek Taing commune, Prey Nob district, Preah Sihanouk province. The police had to reopen the National road 4 to traffic, after it was blocked by protesters.

BREAKING NEWS: Police Arrests Six More Protestors, Block National Road
20/04/19 15:25
Sihanoukville (FN), April 19 – Police arrested six more protestors among 100 for leading violent protests and blocking National Road 4, Sihanoukville police chief Choun Narin told Fresh News on Friday.

It was the second day of roadblock that caused gridlock on National Road 4. The violent protest injured four police officers and two other commune security and damaged three vehicles, according to the police chief.



On Thursday, police arrested Khlot Tosita, 39, female, temporarily settling at the site above; and the other man, Keo Sang, 53, a fisherman in Prey Nup district of Sihanoukville.

Tosita was throwing stone at and using a cane to attack authorities during a raid on 600 anarchic houses build on a legal private land located in Sihanoukville's Prey Nup district, whereas Keo Sang led a group to block the national road.

Sihanoukville administration issued a press release dated 18 April 2019 underlining the commitment to protect public and private assets by taking necessary measures against anarchic activities and violent protest that led to public disorder.

Sihanoukville authority also urged people not to trust the propaganda of some groups that promised the allotted piece of land or lands sold under special price.
=FRESH NEWS

Looks like a big improvement to NR4 to me

Cambodian evictions trigger villagers’ brawl with police
By Sopheng Cheang | AP
April 19
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Eight protesters were arrested and six policemen hurt Friday in southern Cambodia when villagers angry about being evicted tried to block a main road, police said.

Gen. Chuon Narin, the police chief of the coastal city of Sihanoukville, said fighting broke out when police tried to remove makeshift barriers of stone, broken concrete and tree limbs that about 100 villagers set across the road to the capital, Phnom Penh. He said villagers threw stones at police and other security personnel trying to remove the barriers to let traffic through, and also damaged three police cars.

Police finally managed to clear the road, he said.

Land disputes are a major issue in Cambodia, as developers lay claim to valuable rural and urban tracts whose legal ownership is often hazy. It is not rare for disputes to turn violent.

The area around Sihanoukville has become a focus of especially high real estate speculation and rising prices because it has attracted intense investment from China, though most protests there have been nonviolent.

“Blocking the national road to make demands about their dispute is illegal because the road is for traffic and for the public, and my forces will not allow them to do so,” Gen. Chuon Narin said by telephone from Sihanoukville.

Chuon Narin said the trouble began Thursday when police sought to evict 600 villagers from nearby land he said they occupied illegally.

Villagers said most of them had been living there for two years and received no eviction notice before bulldozers arrived to demolish their homes.

One of Friday’s protesters, 30-year-old Kong Mom, said by phone that villagers became angry with police when they chased people out of their houses to allow the bulldozers and other demolition equipment to carry out their work, and barred the villagers from re-entering their homes to collect their belongings.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/as ... 8bcb795a06