Cambodia police beat protesters on May Day

Cambodian security forces have beaten demonstrators participating in a rally to mark the International Workers’ Day, commonly known as the May Day.

Factory workers and trade union representatives as well as opposition party activists rallied in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, on Thursday morning, defying a government ban on public gathering and marching in the city.

The demonstrators gathered outside the city’s Freedom Park, demanding that the government provide better working conditions for workers and raise the monthly minimum wage of $160 for garment workers.

Hundreds of police officers were deployed to the Freedom Park, which had been surrounded with barbed wire to bar the protesters.

Witnesses said civilian auxiliary police attacked the protesters after opposition leaders spoke to the crowd and left the rally site. They said the assaults were random and limited, and that they were over in less than an hour.

Om Sam Ath, the officer of the human rights group Licadho, said at least five people were hurt in the beatings.

“These security forces seem to be addicted to beating people… Every time they disperse protesters, they beat people, and not one of them has been arrested,” he added.

A ban on demonstrations has been in place since January, following numerous labor protests against Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose rule has been challenged by garment workers and opposition supporters.

Speaking before the violence, leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) Sam Rainsy slammed the Cambodian government for banning workers from holding a May Day rally and called for the release of the 23 protesters still detained since violent clashes earlier this year.

Rainsy also renewed a threat to call mass protests if the government does not free the detainees.