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Christian Meeting Broken Up by Police in Ratanakiri.
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 12:27 am
by Anchor Moy
A Christian meeting has been disbanded by police for not having asked permission from the authorities for the meeting. Strangely enough,the reason given for the banning was to prevent the participants from posing a bomb. This took place way out in the boonies of Ratanakiri, which makes the police intervention even more weird. It would take extreme paranoia to imagine that converted hilltribe villagers discussing the Bible are in fact plotting bomb attacks. But, you can never be too careful...
Bakeo district police officers broke up a gathering of 50 Christians in Ratanakkiri province on Wednesday because they had not sought permission from authorities to meet.
The ethic Jarai Christians hold regular and rotating monthly meetings in O’Yadav, Andong Meas and Bakeo districts to pray, discuss their faith and eat, and said they never had to ask for permission before.
But two police officials intervened and disbanded their latest meeting in Touch village, according to attendees and rights group Adhoc...
Bakeo district governor Heng Bunny said the police took correct measures to maintain security, especially as people from other districts were gathering.
“What if they lay the bomb and the bomb explodes and kills people? It was right for the police to ban it; do not blame them,” Bunny said.
Chhay Thy, Ratanakkiri provincial coordinator for Adhoc, suggested recent political tension – in the wake of Black Monday protests – was motivating the local authorities to broadly restrict the freedom to gather. Now, he said, authorities are increasingly requiring permission in advance.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/p ... an-meeting
Re: Christian Meeting Broken Up by Police in Ratanakiri.
Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:51 am
by Bitte_Kein_Lexus
Part of the recent crackdowns. This one taken ludicrously too far, but they were probably acting out based on I assume to be a recent memo they got from up top.
Re: Christian Meeting Broken Up by Police in Ratanakiri.
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2016 12:34 am
by Anchor Moy
Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:Part of the recent crackdowns. This one taken ludicrously too far, but they were probably acting out based on I assume to be a recent memo they got from up top.
Well, looks like it wasn't a one-off thing. Jarai Christians stopped and grilled by police after a prayer meeting in Ratanakiri again.
Three Christian ethnic Jarai men on the way home from a prayer group were temporarily detained and questioned by suspicious police officers in Ratanakkiri on Friday.
The Christians said that Andong Meas district police armed with AK-47s stopped their motorbike, ordered them to the police station and confiscated their backpacks.
Police allegedly grilled them about their activities at the prayer group, asked if they were collecting thumbprints for the opposition or taking pictures to send to contacts in the US.
Their iPads were searched and they were forced to delete 10 photos of the prayer meeting, which was attended by some 300 Jarai people.
“I was afraid for my life,” said Sal Pini, one of the three men. “Police treated us like criminals.”
According to them, police officers told them that the “political situation is not so good” before making them delete the photos, which the officers feared would incite other youth to unspecified undesirable behaviour.
Sovan Thin, the district police chief, could not be reached for comment yesterday. Uy Bul, deputy police chief, confirmed that police questioned and released the trio after finding they had done nothing wrong...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/c ... atanakkiri