| On 22 January 2004, Chea Vichea, a popular union leader in Cambodia, was assassinated not far from the Maryknoll house as he read a newspaper. On Sunday, 25 January about 15,000 marched from the Free Trade Union offices to Vichea's funeral pyre in a public park near the river. Suspicion that the government's ruling party was behind the slaying may be the reason the unusual permission was granted to hold a very public funeral in the park. These photos give an idea of some of the funeral culture of Cambodia. |
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Funeral pyre early in the day
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Factory workers arriving in trucks
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Monks walking to the ceremony
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Plainclothes police watch the crowd
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Protest banner on a hat
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Beginning of the funeral procession
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Mourners carrying life-size cutout of Vichea
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Marchers carrying flower arrangements
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| (More photographs)
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