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15 September 2013 Starting early in the morning, thousands of protestors started pouring into Phnom Penh, converging on Freedom Park where the demonstrations were to be held. One of the two bridges into Phnom Penh was closed and most of the major roads anywhere near the rally were closed also, probably not so much for security but as a move by the government to cause maximum disruption and inconvenience to the populace so that the opposition protestors would be blamed. |
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Many of the demonstrators wore a yellow band, either tied around their arms or around their heads. I couldn't see what the slogan was. I was beside a vehicle passing out the yellow bands and started to take one but thought it could be dangerous if I got stopped later on and the police found it in my backpack. That's the kind of thing you need to think about in a somewhat totalitarian state with little respect for human rights and almost no respect for law. |
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This line of vehicles going north, all filled with protestors, caused huge slowdowns and stoppages, so much so that as I was trying to get to mass this morning on the other side of town, we had to detour way to the west and take a parallel street, and then turn back east toward the church. |
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Cambodian people live a good part of their lives in the streets. The streets are an extension of their homes and daily life, cooking, kids playing, weddings, funerals, and everything else happens in the roadways. So when something like a demonstration goes by, everyone turns out to watch. It's figuratively happening in their living room. |
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Probably the police and solders sent out to block way too many streets were secretly pleased. They got a chance to play with their new razor wire for real. The past couple weeks the authorities have been giving them a crash course in crowd control--they're more used to just shooting people--and now after learning about razor wire they got the opportunity to deploy it. |
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The number of streets barricaded seemed way out of proportion to any security needs. In many areas there was no obvious reason why the street was blocked. The demonstrations were miles away. |
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These barricades were stockpiled in a major roundabout at the end of the bridge that remained open so the soldiers could close the bridge on short notice. The men nearby are motordupe drivers watching vans coming across the bridge from the provinces for possible fares to take around the city on their motorcycle taxis. |
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The major boulevard leading to the closed Monivong Bridge was also closed to most traffic. Locals were allowed in. I got in because I was going to a meeting inside the closed area. You can see that the left lane is completely closed at the intersection and both lanes of traffic had to squeeze through an opening in the barriers. The fire truck is for intimidation, as a possible water cannon. They don't even use the fire trucks to fight fires. That's very rare, because the fireman charge money when they get to the fire, so the sight of a fire truck on the streets has an obviously different message rather than the safety and protection of the people. |