By SOPHENG CHEANG and JUSTINE DRENNAN
A supporter of Cambodia’s opposition parties move barbed wire set up by the police during a gathering on a street for marching, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2013. Cambodia’s main opposition leader kicked off a new wave of demonstrations against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government Sunday, warning the protests would not stop until the nation’s post-election deadlock is resolved. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Riot police in Cambodia’s capital fired smoke bombs and water cannons at rock-throwing opposition supporters Sunday, as protesters kicked off a new wave of demonstrations against Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government with a vow to go on until the nation’s post-election deadlock is resolved.
At least one policeman and three protesters were injured in the violence in Phnom Penh. Most of the city was calm, however, with more than 20,000 people gathering peacefully at a downtown park to intensify their push for an independent investigation of results from the July election.
The opposition says the ballot was marred by irregularities that robbed it of winning a majority of seats in parliament, allegations the ruling party denies.
Although the government allowed Sunday’s rally to go ahead, authorities had warned protesters to stay within the confines of Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park. Thousands of people marched across various parts of the city anyway, and police — apparently under orders not to intervene — mostly let them go ahead.
At one spot along a river in eastern Phnom Penh, however, security forces clashed with around 200 demonstrators who had gathered on one side of a barricade of barbed wire and roadblocks erected to keep them away from the Royal Palace. Police fired water cannons and then smoke grenades, and demonstrators riposted with rocks, shoes and other objects.
One policeman was hit in the head with a piece of iron. Three protesters were also injured, according to the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, which warned that the violence could escalate as the rallies go on.
Shortly after the clash, opposition leader Sam Rainsy visited the scene and condemned the violence. He urged the crowd — which by then had swelled to nearly 1,000 people — to stay calm and return to the main protest site at Freedom Park. The crowd later dispersed.
The mass rally came one day after Cambodia’s king brought Hun Sen face to face with Sam Rainsy for the first time in years, urging the two rivals to resolve their conflict over the election results peacefully for the sake of national stability. No agreement was reached, but the two are expected to meet again Monday.
Political analysts say the weekend protest is mostly aimed at appeasing angry supporters and strengthening the opposition’s hand in negotiations with Hun Sen. Although demonstrators are pushing for an independent investigation of the election results, the government has no legal means of meeting the request now that the results have been ratified.
“Their ballots were stolen and they are asking for justice,” Sam Rainsy said of his supporters in a speech at Sunday’s rally.
He said the protest, initially planned for three days, would continue until the opposition’s demands for justice are met.
Sam Rainsy’s Cambodia National Rescue Party set up tents and brought in food supplies, intent on defying a government order to leave by nightfall. Police Lt. Gen. Choun Sovann said demonstrators would be allowed to stay overnight at the park and police would not intervene.
Fears of violence have risen amid a visible increase of military forces in Phnom Penh since the election and the discovery Friday of explosives planted by unknown people near Freedom Park.
Official results announced last weekend gave Hun Sen’s party 68 seats in the National Assembly and Sam Rainsy’s party 55 — a dramatic opposition increase from the 29 seats it won in the previous election.
On Saturday, King Norodom Sihamoni also urged lawmakers from both parties to attend the opening session of parliament on Sept. 23. The opposition has said it will boycott the session, and Sam Rainsy repeated that promise Sunday.
Ou Virak, president of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, said talks between the rivals this week could have focused on allotting the opposition several parliamentary leadership positions, reforming the electoral commission and allowing Sam Rainsy to take a seat in parliament.
Just before July’s disputed vote, the king pardoned the then-self-exiled Sam Rainsy at the request of Hun Sen — likely under international pressure. He returned to Cambodia before the election, but too late to register as a candidate himself.
